


A Shared Pain

by HickoryDox, Scarpath



Series: Roleplays with Hickory and Scarpath [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, M/M, RP, Soulmate AU, slightly yandere edge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-06-18 15:48:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HickoryDox/pseuds/HickoryDox, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarpath/pseuds/Scarpath
Summary: In this world people can feel whatever pain their soulmate can. Red and Slim have had things pretty rough considering both of their brothers have been… A little heavy handed with them… Now that they’ve met, perhaps things can start getting a bit better?Written in RP format





	1. Chapter 1

It was a pretty nice day out, Red thought. It had been raining a lot lately, which was pretty par for the course as far as spring went, but today the sun was shining and all that rain had done wonders for the plants and flowers. It was an absolutely perfect day for selling hot dogs at the park.

So there he stood, arms folded on his stand, and just sort of enjoying the sunshine. He’d already had a few customers, despite how early it still was. Or, well, early for him anyway. The lunch rush would probably start rolling soon. For now things were pretty calm. Kids were playing at the nearby park, filling the air with their laughter. Joggers were peppering the little trail that circled the area.

Yep. It was a nice day.

Absently, he rubbed at his right arm. His ulna had a new crack in it from last night and it ached. He didn’t really blame his brother for it. The boss just didn’t know his own strength sometimes and Red /had/ come home a little drunk again. He was more upset with himself for pissing his brother off again. He knew better than that by now.

And then of course there was the whole soulmate thing to consider… It had been a few weeks since he’d last felt something from his. It was a good thing, he told himself. It meant they’d finally gotten away from whatever had been hurting them before. (Which spared Red a good deal of pain as well since he’d always been able to feel that shit…) But it just made his mistakes spark his guilt that much more. It wasn’t right that his soulmate had gotten out of harm’s way but was still hurting due to Red’s poor choices.

Red sighed and left the little fracture alone. Maybe he’d take some pain medication when he got home. Not so much for himself, but out of consideration for whatever poor asshole had been unfortunate enough to get him as a soulmate in a world where they would feel each other's pain.

~~

“SANS! SLIM! I’M EXILING YOU FROM THE HOUSE FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS, YOU LAZYBONES. GO TALK WITH OTHER MONSTERS FOR ONCE. OH, AND DO NOT GO TO GRILLBY’S THIS TIME EITHER!!” Papryus shouted, shooing both his brother and his houseguest out the door.

Slim sighed, but allowed himself to be pushed out the door. He knew that Papyrus had a point, seeing as he Slim had hardly left the house since he’d started crashing on their couch three or so weeks ago. He also hadn’t been as good about looking for a new roommate as he should be. It was a wonder that Papyrus didn’t kick him out to the curb for being useless. After all, Slim’s own brother did the same not even a month ago.

“Come on, Slim. We can go by the park and people watch. There’s also another skeleton who runs a hotdog stand out there, so we can get some grub while we’re at it.” Sans gently led Slim towards the park, thankfully not saying anything about the blank look Slim always got when thinking about Black.

“Fine with me, Si- Sans.” Slim responded, chastising himself for nearly calling Sans sir. It had been ingrained in him from a young age that he should always show others the proper respect, and even Sans’ insistence that he not be called sir wasn’t enough to boot the habit right away.

“That’s the third slip-up today. You doing alright, Slim?” Sans asked, concern sneaking into his voice.

“My soulmate is injured again.” Slim responded, gazing down guiltily. He hated that he couldn’t help his soulmate, to whisk them away from whatever was still hurting them. At least now that his brother had kicked him out of the house he wasn’t adding pain of his own to the mix.

“That’s rough, pal. I hope you can find them soon. What is it this time?”

“Arm. Feels like it might be pretty badly bruised, if not cracked.” Slim cradled the offending arm close to him, as if by doing so he could hold his soulmate closer.

“Well, here’s the park. Wanna get some grub?” Sans asked, attempting to change the subject to less depressing things. Slim nodded, following Sans to a small hotdog stand. 

“Yo Red! Can I get two ‘dogs on this fine spring morning?”

~~

Red was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the familiar voice of one of his regulars. His teeth immediately pulled up into a grin.

"Sans! Hey pal! Normally don't see ya 'round this early. Yer bro make ya go fer a walk again? He tryin' ta put a 'spring' in yer step?" He chuckled, already pulling out the requested pair of hot dogs. He took in the other skeleton with Sans as well. "An' who's yer friend?"

He offered the first hot dog, slathered in ketchup the way he knew his friend liked it, to Sans and directed his smile to his taller customer. He let his expression soften a bit when he noticed how down the guy seemed. "What'cha want on yer ‘dog, beanpole?"

~~

“This is Slim. His bro kicked him out a few weeks ago, so he’s been staying with Paps and I. And Papyrus decided to kick us out for “AT LEAST TWO HOURS” since we haven’t been out of the house recently enough for him.” Sans responded, his imitation of Papyrus baring the grace only a brother could manage.

“Just plain.” Slim responded, reaching into his pocket to make sure he still had his small bottle of syrup on him. “I’m not much for the typical condiments.”

~~

Red snickered at Sans' imitation. Having met Papyrus a few times, he could appreciate how much enthusiasm Sans managed to push into those few words. "My sympathies ta both've ya then."

He handed over the other hot dog plain, as requested, letting a socket fall shut in a lazy wink. "One plain jane pup. On the house. Ya look like ya could use a little pick me up. It ain't been /that/ bad living with Paps, has it?"

~~

Slim reached for the hotdog with his right arm, only to switch fairly quickly to his other arm as he was reminded of his soulmate’s wound. He let a small grimace slip as he pulled his maple syrup out and put a small amount onto his food. He would put more, but Black would always be ready with a heavy fist when Slim asked to be able to buy more so he had long since learned to make it last.

“Papyrus and Sans have been wonderful hosts. Any issues are caused only by my own shortcomings.” Slim glared at the phantom wound on his arm, blaming himself for not being able to stand up for his soulmate.

“Come on Slim, you should know by now it’s not your fault.” Sans commented, placing a hand on Slim’s shoulder.

~~

Red's smile stuttered at the visible display of pain. It couldn't be... Right? It was just a coincidence.

He forced his smile back to where it should be and folded his arms on his cart, hands hidden in the folds of his thick sleeves. "Ya should listen ta Sans. He may not have any brains knockin around in that skull, but he usually knows what he's talkin about."

He could feel his soul thrumming with barely suppressed hope. he'd never actively tried to find his soul mate, but he couldn't deny he'd always sort of wanted to. He couldn't help but fantasize sometimes, of having someone to talk to. Someone who would understand. Someone who might even hold him when things got bad. Sometimes he'd dared to fantasize about holding them, and being useful for once. Being able to say the words 'I understand' and make things even a little bit better for someone else... Maybe even... Having someone to care about him...

Did he want to try to hope right now? Should he really check?

~~

“Sans is often right, I’ll give him that much.” Slim admitted with a joking tone.

“Hey, is that any way to talk about the guy letting you stay under his roof?” Sans gently pushed on Slims shoulder, teasing. The words were similar to what Black had used against Slim, however. He shied away, looking down submissively.

“Sorry sir.”

Sans grimaced at the reaction. While Slim was a lot better now that he was away from his brother, he still had a ways to go before he could shake off the abuse he had suffered most his life. “Don’t worry about it, Slim. Just eat your hotdog.”

~~

Red's soul twisted. 'Sorry sir.' It sounded so similar to how Red would apologize to his brother whenever he stepped out of line. 'Sorry, boss.' Familiar and so out of place coming from someone else's mouth. His smile slipped again, concern edging in.

He had to check... He just-...

But how? If Slim had been open with Sans about what he'd been feeling, which seemed to be the case since Sans seemed perfectly aware of that pain in Slim's arm, then Red would have to be careful. He didn't want his friends knowing about the shameful aspects of his life. He'd done pretty well so far at hiding it. He wasn't about to fuck that up now.

This was probably going to be mean. Whether it was Slim or not, Red didn't like the idea of inflicting pain on his soul mate on purpose. He had to know though...

So, with the fingers hidden behind his sleeve, he dug into his fractured bone. He'd braced himself for it, so he was able to avoid wincing as that ache flared into something a little sharper.

~~

Slim hissed, nearly dropping his ‘dog when the pain in his arm flared up. His soul twisted with worry for his soulmate. Why was the wound suddenly acting up? Was his soulmate about to get hurt even more? Usually after an injury so bad it would be a least a day or two before anything else happened.

He could only stare helplessly at the wound, wishing he could help more.

“Slim!” Sans’ voice broke through the haze that the pain and worry had placed over Slim. “Geez Buddy, you alright?”

“I- I am fine.” Slim responded, voice hardly above a whisper.

~~

Fuck... It was him... It really was him... But now, what was he supposed to do about that information? He certainly couldn't say anything with Sans here... But should he really say anything at all? Slim was his soul mate... But he was also the guy Red kept hurting, intentionally or not. And Slim was staying with Sans and papyrus now, both good, kind monsters who would no doubt give Slim all the help he needed. 

He didn't need Red...

Hell if he wasn't going to try to be there for him in any way he could though...

He stepped down from the little step stool he kept behind his hot dog stand and made his way around to Slim, gently laying a hand on his arm. "Ya don't look fine ta me. C'mon, why don'cha come over here n' sit down."

There was a bench on the other side of the path he was parked by. At this time of day it was warmed by sunlight. Later in the afternoon the tree behind it would cast it in shade. 

~~

Slim let himself be led by both Red and Sans, forcing himself to relax. No other pain had made itself known, so he figured it should be alright for now. He sat on the bench, eating his ‘dog mechanically. Even the maple syrup he had placed on it seemed tasteless.

The pain he still felt from his soulmate was like a poison lacing his marrow with guilt. He was no longer adding his own pain to their bond, yet he still felt so stupidly responsible. He should be out there looking for his soulmate, not moping around in Sans and Papyrus’ place. He hardly even left the house for anything except work while his soulmate was still getting hurt every other day!

“Sorry for disturbing you.” He barely choked off the sir that tried to force its way onto the end of his sentence. Sans disliked it when he called people that, so he tried his best to hold in the instinctive title.

“Don’t worry about it, Slim. Do we need to head back home? I’m sure Papyrus would understand.” Sans placed his hand on Slim’s shoulder as he spoke, worry furrowing his brow.

“No, I’m fine.” Slim responded naturally, not wishing to upset the other skeleton.

~~

"Now that's a fibula if ever I heard one." Red sat next to Slim, on his available left side. He was careful to keep his own injured arm angled away just enough to not be carelessly bumped or something. He didn't need to be hurting Slim any more today. "Y'know, It's alright ta lean on yer friends. Ain't no one here gonna get sternum with ya over it." He said with a gentle smile. Like a hypocrite.

~~

A small smile crept onto Slim’s face and he let out a small chuckle. He debated with himself for moment, trying to decide how much he wanted to say in front of a practical stranger. Everything his brother had taught him told him not to share weaknesses, however...

Something told him he could trust Red. Perhaps it was because Sans seemed to trust him as well, Slim wasn’t sure. “I’m just worried for my soulmate. Their arm isn’t in the best of shape, and I hate not being able to be there for them. There were times that knowing they were there... it felt like they were the only one holding me together, and I want them to know that I’m here for them, ya know?”

~~

Well if that didn't just stab right through his soul and make him feel like a piece of shit. Because Red did know. He knew that feeling. Feeling broken and worthless, but never alone. Because every random pain, every unexplained ache, was a reminder that he wasn't. There was someone out there bonded to him, there with him, through everything. And even if it was shitty of him, he'd always felt at least a little comforted by the fact that there was someone to share his pain with. It... Held him together, as Slim put it.

He grabbed at the sleeve covering his right arm. What the hell was he doing? He couldn't just... Not tell Slim. he couldn't hide this. Not when it was the helpless feeling of not knowing that was putting that expression on Slim's face. Not when he understood that feeling so well himself.

"Uh... Y-yeah... Yeah I do know..." His eyes darted to Sans, uncomfortable with him being here for this, but figuring he was just going to have to suck it up. This wasn't for Red.

He looked back to Slim, then averted his eyes altogether. Shit, why did this feel so awkward. Wanting to just get it over with, he reached to push his sleeve up, making his arm twinge a little in protest of the movement as Red displayed the bandage around the bones.

"Sorry..." For always hurting you. For not making better choices. For not being there for you better... For almost not telling you...

~~

Slim’s eye sockets blew wide as he noticed the bandages. As he realized what Red was saying. He reached out a hand, ghosting over the bandages lightly. He suddenly had to fight back tears as a wave emotion hit him.

Feeling awkward, Sans backed away a bit. “I’m gonna head back to the house. Give you two some privacy.”

Sans wasn’t sure what to think about Red being Slim’s soulmate. In the past few weeks, Slim had quickly grown to be something close to a brother to Sans. He had tried his best to be there for the timid skeleton when Black had asked him to care for him. Of course, Slim didn’t know the real reason he was kicked out of his old home. Didn’t know that it was because Back had finally given up on being anything but an abusive dick and decided that his efforts to change were doing nothing.

It was because he was so close to Slim though that he knew what it meant that Red was his soulmate. Sans had been there when Slim broke down because of the pain his soulmate was in. He had listened when Slim confided that he was nearly positive that his soulmate was also abused.

Sans would need to have a talk with Edge about how to treat one’s brother.

With that thought, Sans ported away, leaving the other two skeletons alone.

“You’re really...?” Slim started, ghosting his fingers along the bandages a second time. “You’re my soulmate?”

~~

Red shot Sans a look as he left, but decided that really shouldn't be where he directed his attention right now. He could deal with that particular fall out later. Right now he had something.. /Someone/... Much more important to address.

"Uh... Yep. That's what it looks like. S-sorry fer... Y'know. Before... I was just checkin..." He pulled the sleeve back down. He didn't want Slim to keep looking at it. "I know it hurt like a bitch." He tried to smile, to laugh it off. But both his words and his grin were strained.

~~

“I- stars what do I even say? I’ve been imaging this for years, but now that you’re actually here I don’t even know what to say. I’m so glad I finally get to meet you.” Tears snuck out from Slim’s sockets. He gave Red a large smile, a smile that was probably the most real of any that had graced his face. He started to reach for a hug, only to hesitate. Would Red even want a hug?

“Ca-can I hug you?”

~~

Red's eyes shot back up, his face coloring a bit. He'd half expected some kind of reprimand. Maybe not a harsh one, Slim didn't look the type, but... Stars, and that expression looked so good on him... A smile definitely fit him much better than the kicked puppy look from before.

"Uh.. S-sure. O-ok..." He wasn't usually very fond of being touched. But he could already tell he wasn't ever going to be able to tell Slim no. Not when he looked at him like /that/.

Besides... He'd waited long enough to be able to hold his soul mate.

~~

Slim carefully moved forward, wrapping his arms around his soulmate. He made sure to be gentle, not wanting to aggravate any of the old wounds he knew still gave Red pain. He rested his forehead on Red’s, smile softening.

“I’m so happy. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long. I’m sorry for all the pain of mine you’ve had to feel. I do miss m’Lord, but I’m also so glad that you no longer have to deal with my pain alongside yours. Sans and Papyrus have been so kind, and they never seem to get angry at me. Not like m’Lord does.” Slim shivered a little as he mentioned Black. He loved his older brother, but he felt it wasn’t worth giving his soulmate, Red, more pain just to be at his brother’s side.

“Is- is there anything I can do to help you? I hate knowing you’re in pain.”

~~

Dammit... Slim wasn't upset with him at all. And he held Red so gently, so careful of even his smallest hurts. When Red wrapped his own arms around Slim's waist, they trembled.

It was strange... It was so damn strange.

He wasn't sure how to respond. His first instinct was to assure Slim that he was fine. that Slim didn't need to worry. But Slim would be able to see through that easily. Slim /knew/ how bad Red had been hurting. He could /feel/ it. Red couldn't lie to Slim.

"Heh.. You uh.. Ya already help me out just by existin..." His voice shook. Dammit! He was /not/ going to cry right now! "M'glad Sans n' Pap are helpin ya out. They're pretty good guys. Couple'a 'bone'ified sweethearts. Heh."

~~

“Yeah. I’d been with m’Lord all my life until he finally grew tired of all my screw ups and kicked my out. But Sans and Papyrus... They took me in like I was their brother or something. They’ve been so patient with me. It’s like a dream to me. A dream I never want to wake up from. And now I’ve even got my soulmate! What did I even do to deserve this?” Slim ran a hand gently over Red’s skull as he spoke. When a purr started rumbling in his chest, he did nothing to stop it.

A thought creeped into his mind that made his purr stutter for a moment. Red seemed like a perfectly capable monster, one who could defend himself if needed. And yet he was almost always in pain. Slim had been mostly sure that his soulmate was being abused like he had been, and meeting him pretty much proved it. He closed his eyes, taking a shuddering breath.

“You’re going to go back, aren’t you? Back to the one who hurts you so much.”

~~

Red grit his teeth, hearing that Slim had been kicked out. It couldn't have been Slim's fault. The guy was turning out to be a complete sweetheart! No way he did anything worthy of getting kicked to the curb.

The beginning sparks of his anger were easily soothed away, however, when Slim ran a hand over his skull. It felt so nice. So god damn nice... And that purr, vibrating gently against him, it made him feel warm.

Those last few words brought back the chill. Red loosened his grip, backing away slightly and hanging his head, unable to look Slim in the eye.

"I-I..." He felt like such an asshole. "H-he needs me... He doesn't mean ta-... I-i just... He's my little brother. I can't just... Leave him."

Soul mate or not, it didn't seem possible for Slim to hold any affection for him when Red couldn't guarantee that he'd stop being a source of pain for him. Red was an idiot. So it was inevitable that he'd piss his brother off again at some point. He knew Edge didn't mean to hurt him. Red was just too fragile and easy to hurt...

"M'sorry. I-if I could make it so it doesn't hurt you too, I would. M'so sorry..."

~~

“Your brother, huh? I understand. I likely never would have left m’Lord if he hadn’t kicked me out. He was harsh, sure, but... He’s still my brother. He raised me, taking care of a small kid when he was only ten years old. He’s done so much for me.” Slim kept his purr going, hoping that Red would catch that Slim wasn’t upset about the pain. 

Hugging Red like that, holding him in his arms felt so right to Slim. He continued to stroke Red’s skull gently, trying to sooth his soulmate.

~~

He understood. Slim /understood/. God dammit! He told himself he wasn't going to cry!

Slim was still purring, still smoothing that big hand of his over Red's skull. Those long arms were still around him and holding him close. Red was forgiven. As if he'd never done anything wrong in the first place. 

And hearing Slim talk about his brother, the one who'd hurt him, as affectionately as he did... He could tell Slim really did understand. He almost wished he didn't. It hurt to love someone that much and then have them hurt you... But he was also so damn thankful.

"B-boss ain't so bad sometimes. H-he was such a cute fuckin kid. Little shit was always out ta save the world." He tried to laugh around his tears, a tinge of fondness in his voice. "B-but I musta fucked up somewhere.. He just.. H-he got so angry... He gets so angry all the time... A-and i don't think he knows just h-how strong he is... He.. He really don't mean ta... He ain't a b-bad person..."

Red gripped Slim's coat at the sides where his hands were resting. A shock of pain reminded him to hold a little more loosely with his right.


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m looking for a place right now so I’m not just freeloading on the couch. Once I do find a place, it’ll always be open to you. It can be a safe space if you want.” Slim offered, keeping up his reassuring purr.

“Whatever you need, I’ll give you.”

~~

The offer shocked a small laugh out of him. Damn but this guy was sweet. He backed away again, this time smiling as he wiped his sleeve across his face to dry the tears.

"W-we just met ya fuckin dingus! Don't go offerin that kinda shit! Heh heh." He pushed the negative emotions down, and plastered on a wide smile as he looked up at Slim. It was easier than usual, given how light he was feeling at the moment. "I barely know ya! How bout we fix that, huh? Saw ya pourin syrup on yer 'dog. Wanna do breakfast tomorrow?"

~~

Slim blushed, feeling slightly awkward. “Heh, sorry. Guess I just got a little over excited. I’d love to get breakfast with you.”

Slim pulled out his phone. It was just a simple flip phone, but it worked well enough for him. He opened it up to his contacts and passed it over to Red. “Here, so we can stay in contact. Well, at least, as long as you have a phone of your own.”

~~

Red felt his face warm a little. He wasn't sure why, but he'd been a little afraid Slim would say no. It was a stupid fear, in retrospect. slim seemed really eager to do just about anything Red wanted, up to and including things he didn't even have yet. red would have to make sure to be careful not to take advantage of that.

"Yeah. O-of course I do." he accepted slims phone while also digging out his own. It was a similar model and it had a little beat up cat charm hanging off of it. It had been a rare gift from his brother when they'd been younger.

Red deftly opened up the contacts list on his own phone and offered it to Slim before punching in his information in Slim's phone. He contemplated doing something witty with his contact name, but in the end decided against it. He and Slim really had just met. He didn't want to go taking liberties he shouldn't... Not yet anyway.

He offered the phone back with a smile. "Go ahead n' text me anytime, yeah?"

~~

“I will. Same offer stands for you, too. Where did you wanna meet up for breakfast?” Slim asked, purr starting back up as he looked at the contact in his phone. It was just starting to fully sink in that he’d found his soulmate. His soulmate was finally right in front of him.

He had hardly dared to hope on some of his bad days that he would ever find the one person who was always there. He’d wondered who would ever want to be stuck with him, the guy who couldn’t even muster up the courage to leave his abuser, instead letting himself get hurt.

“I’m sorry I didn’t leave m’Lord sooner. I hated knowing you were in pain because of me, but I just- I couldn’t just abandon the one who raised me.”

~~

 

Red accepted his phone back and shoved it back into his pocket. His fingers stayed curled around it and its new precious contact. "Shit, I dunno.. Uh.. There's a little diner a few blocks from here. I've never been, but I've heard good things..."

His hand tightened around his phone at the apology, his jaw tightening around his sharp toothed smile. "Ya don't gotta apologize, Slim. I'd have ta be some kinda dick ta hold that shit against ya, all things considered..." He shrugged, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. Even if it sort of was...

Red had accepted the fact that he'd probably fucked up raising his bro. He'd done something wrong along the way. It was his own fault Edge treated him the way he did... But Slim...

/He/ was the kid brother... He should have been taken care of. Should have been loved and protected. But his older brother had gone the other direction for some unfathomable reason. Slim didn't deserve what he'd gotten. And then to have Red's pain on top of it... It wasn't fair. It made Red want to find this shit older brother and remove his god damn spine from his child abusing piece of shit body.

But he knew Slim wouldn't appreciate that sentiment. So he kept his mouth shut. Besides... Slim was away from the asshole. He was staying with Sans and Paps now.

~~

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” Slim didn’t fully want to leave yet, but he reminded himself that Red was supposed to be working right now. He didn’t want to get his soulmate in trouble right after he’d met him. It wasn’t like this was the last time he’d see Red, either. He’d just have to suck it up and wait until tomorrow.

“Stay safe, Red.” As safe as you can be while returning to your brother, that is. Slim let the second part of his statement stay unsaid, but he knew the both of them were likely thinking it. He wished he could pull Red away from the situation, but... If it were him still with his brother, he knew he would fight tooth and nail to stay. He’d let Red keep going back.

Even if the emotional pain of knowing his soulmate was hurt was always worse than the physical.

~~

Red let his smile soften. "Yeah. I'll see ya. And uh... I'll do my best." He huddled down into his coat a bit, the honest concern feeling both really nice and really awkward. 

He really would do his best not to piss his brother off though. It wasn't just himself he needed to worry about. His soul mate had a face. His soul mate had a name. It wasn't just some poor anonymous bastard. It was Slim. And somehow that changed things a bit.

A little reluctantly, Red pulled the rest of the way from Slim and got up from the bench. He shuffled over towards his hot dog stand and hopped up onto the little step stool behind it. He sent a little wave towards Slim, then watched him leave with a sad little sigh. 

Tomorrow. He'd see him again tomorrow.

~~

Slim could hardly sleep that night. Nerves started to sink in not long after he had told Papyrus about having found his soulmate. When he had mentioned that he was going to meet up with Red in the morning, Papyrus immediately started calling it a date. Slim himself wasn’t sure if it was a date or if it was just a hangout.

What is one even supposed to wear to a might-be-date? Do you even dress up at all? Would Red be dressing up?

Needless to say, Slim was up far earlier than usual, digging through the box of clothing that he had. He found a nice red turtleneck he could wear under his jacket, and a pair of jeans to replace his normal shorts.

He stared in the mirror for a few moments after getting dressed, chanting inwardly to himself. ‘You can do this. You can do this. You can do this!’ It didn’t do too much to calm him down.

He glanced at the clock, only to groan. There were still two hours until the time they had agreed upon.

He was far too nervous.

~~  
He'd set the alarm on his phone. It wasn't exactly something he'd ever really had the need to do. Edge always made sure he got up on time after all. Today, though, he had somewhere he needed to be. Not that that immediately registered upon waking... All he knew was that there was a racket coming from his phone and he didn't want to be awake yet.

He grabbed his phone and jabbed his sharp little fingers at the buttons until it shut up, not even bothering to open his eyes. He settled back down against his pillow and he was back to sleep shortly after.

Five minutes passed before it went off again. He growled and grabbed up the little device, flipping it open to check and see whatever bullshit reason he'd had for setting the damn thing in the first place.

The screen had a little written reminder on the display. It read 'Breakfast with Slim'. His face flushed red and suddenly he was feeling much more awake. He sat up the rest of the way and fumbled to turn the alarm all the way off. Fuck! How had he managed to forget?! He'd met his soul mate yesterday. And more than that, his soul mate had been... Wonderful. Understanding. Sweet. Affectionate... Attractive...

His face flushed a little darker and he climbed out of bed. He needed to get ready.

After a quick shower he found himself standing wrapped in a towel and staring at the various piles of clothes in his room. He'd never been the tidiest of monsters... He wasn't even entirely sure which piles were the clean piles. Digging around in one of them he pulled out a shirt and gave it a tentative sniff.... His eye lights guttered out. Nope.

He dug around in a few more piles before he found a relatively clean smelling shirt. It was one of his nicer ones. No stains. No tears. The color was even still pretty bright. And, being a thick sweater, it wasn't easily wrinkled by being on the floor. It was an understated yellow. he remembered buying it because mustard stains wouldn't show up on it as easy and then he just never wore it. 

As he looked around a little more he was disappointed but unsurprised to find he didn't own anything nicer than his usual shorts. Ah well. At least he'd be wearing a nice shirt. That had to count for something, right? He hoped Slim liked it.

He'd just pulled on his coat and slipped his phone into his pocket when there was a loud banging at his door.

"Red!! Wake your lazy ass up!"

Red startled, jerking just a bit as he hunched into himself defensively. The door didn't open though. He quickly shuffled over to it and opened it himself. On the other side he found his brother, a shocked look on his face.

"Uh.. H-hey Boss. G'mornin." He smiled a little nervously, trying to gauge his brother's mood.

"You... Are awake already?" Edge asked, his brow creasing with suspicion.

"Ye-yeah. I uh.. got some stuff ta do b'fore work today so..." He trailed off shakily, trying to keep his smile in place as his brother stared him down. He started to sweat.

"Very well." Edge finally said, that crease in his brow smoothing. "Get going then. I'll not have you be late and waste this rare occurrence of you fighting back your usual slothful ways."

Red blinked. Huh. Looks like the Boss was in a good mood today. Some of his tension eased as he made his way to the front door. "Don't worry, Boss. Ya don't gotta 'dog' me ta get ta work t'day. I'll just 'ketchup' on my sleep later."

He grinned as he heard his brother screech at him and ducked out of the house just to hear something heavy be thrown at the door. He loved days when Edge was in a good mood. 

And now he got to go see Slim! Today was looking to be pretty damn good.

~~

Slim ended up pacing in the living room for a good hour, unable to settle his nerves. He continually glanced over at his clothing box, thinking about a present Papyrus had gotten him. He hadn’t expected to ever wear it, as it’s something Black would never approve of. However, as he paced Slim found himself drawn to the idea of it.

After all, Black wasn’t going to be there, was he? No, it was just Red. Would Red judge him for it? He didn’t seem like someone who would care to much, anyway.

With a huff, Slim dug into the box, grabbing the article of clothing he had hidden in the bottom. A quick trip to the bathroom later, and he was dressed in a flowing brown skirt that reached down to just a few inches above his ankles.

He left the house soon after that, not wanting to give himself a chance to second guess himself. It meant that he got to the diner a few minutes early. He chose to wait outside for Red, nerves on overdrive.

Despite the hour he spent trying to calm down before he came, he was still far too wound up. He didn’t want to mess this up. Even before he met him, Red was so important to Slim. If he did something to ruin this, he’d never forgive himself. He had to take a moment to breathe. He leaned against the wall of the diner, closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing.

~~

He took a shortcut most of the way there, popping from one alley to another. He was a few minutes early and he was starting to feel a little jittery. He was excited, but he was also a bit scared. What if they got to talking and Slim decided he didn't actually like Red? What if they didn't have any common interests? What if they had /too many/ common interests? What if Red said something stupid? he did have a pretty big mouth... It was the reason for half the cracks on his bones.

His claws dug into the lining of his pockets, twisting nervously as his mind chased circles around itself. Sweat beaded up on his skull, even in the cool morning air. maybe it hadn't been a good idea to ask Slim out so quick... Maybe they shoulda hung out a bit first. that would have been a lot more low pressure... But he hadn't been able to help himself. His damn mouth had just run away with him and spat out whatever it damn well wanted. Did Slim even think of it as a date? Red hadn't exactly been very specific with his wording...

He turned the corner to the street the diner was on and glanced up at the building... only to freeze in place. Slim was standing against the wall, looking a little nervous and shy. he was wearing the same coat as yesterday and a fairly nice, if plain, shirt. But as Red's eye lights trailed down, he found a long, flowing skirt. It made Slim look... Soft. Soft and vulnerable in a way Red hadn't expected to like as much as he did. Color flooded his face.

Then slim's eyes opened and caught sight of Red and he stiffened. He forced a smile and gave a little wave before quickly making his way over.

"Uh h-hey! Hi! You uh.. Y'look nice!" He fidgeted, averting his eyes for a moment as a hand went up to scratch lightly at the back of his skull. "H-how bout we head inside, yeah? k-kinda cold out, ain't it?"

~~

“Uh ye-yeah, it’s a bit chilly today.” Slim stuttered out, moving towards the door. He cursed his awkward response inwardly.

“You really think I look nice? I’ve, uh, never worn something like this before. Pa-Papyrus got it for me, but I wasn’t... I don’t think m’Lord would ever approve of this sort of thing.” Slim’s hand had found his skirt and he was bunching some of the fabric tightly. He couldn’t quite make eye contact with Red.

~~  
Red's skull heated a little more at the admission that Slim didn't actually dress like this very often. Never before in fact. Which made this feel a whole lot more special.

Then the asshole brother was brought up again and Red nearly choked trying to suppress his growl. He reached over and placed his hand over Slim's, gently moving his fingers between Slim's until his grip on his skirt loosened and Red could hold his hand properly.

"I said ya look nice n' I mean it. And as long as ya like wearin it, then fuck what anyone else thinks." He reached for the door himself when they reached it and held it open so Slim could go in, then followed after him, not letting go of his hand.

The smell of coffee and bacon was the first thing to hit him as they went inside. The next things to register was the warmth and the soft, upbeat music that filled the room. The place looked a little busy. There was a little sign that asked them to wait to be seated, but there was nobody ahead of them and nobody at the front desk. 

Well, Red knew how to be patient. He could wait to be noticed.

~~

Slim blushed at Red’s words, ducking his head a little. He let Red tease his fingers from the death grip he had on his skirt, blushing even more when he realized that Red wasn’t going to drop his hand. A small, hesitant purr started up in his chest.

~~

Red noticed the purr, because of course he did, and shyly averted his eyes to the rest of the diner. He gave Slim's hand a little squeeze. "Nice place, don'cha think? Kinda cute. Like one a' them little mom n' pop places."

It was a fairly abysmal attempt at small talk while they waited for someone to notice them. He internally winced.

~~

“It’s nice.” Slim had to hold back a cringe at his own response. A very awkward silence fell between the two of them, as Slim tried to come up with something to say. Thankfully however, the two of them were finally noticed. A fairly short human came up to them, a frown clear on her face.

“Ugh, how can I help you? Will it just be the two of you freaks today?” The human asked, not bothering to keep the distaste from her voice. Slim scowled, a rare flare of temper fueling him.

“Red is not a freak, ma’am. Please do not refer to us in that way.”

“Yeah right. Who else would want to go out with someone like you. Leave the skirts to the women, dude.” The hurtful words dug into Slim. 

He knew he shouldn’t have worn the skirt. Now thanks to him this woman was calling Red a freak.

Slim took a half a step back, shrinking in on himself slightly. Tears warmed his eyes, though he didn’t let them slip.

~~

Red tightened his hand, his grin stretching wide as his eye lights guttered out. It was bad enough dealing with assholes like this on his own when they happened by him in the park, but he would have thought someone who's job revolved around customer service would know better. Or at least reign themselves in a little. But no. This /bitch/ had just come right out and insulted the both of them. to their faces.

And of course he hadn't missed the fact that Slim had defended Red and only Red.

Rage bubbled up hot and terrible in his rib cage as he directed his sharp toothed empty gaze at the woman. "Sounds like someone could use a fuckin lesson in common decency." he took a step forward. "If ya like, I can show ya a thing or two." he took another step, reveling in the jerky little step the bitch took backwards this time. 

"Betcha I'd have a real /great/ time, too." He growled, the threat clear in his tone. 

He could handle people being rude to him. He was not about to let it slide if someone talked that way to his fucking soul mate.

~~

Slim took a deep breath, calming himself down. Anger would only give that woman what she wanted. Tears even more so. He reached over and placed a hand on Red’s shoulder to get his attention. “It’s not worth it, Red. Let’s just find somewhere else to eat.”

‘Let’s just go somewhere else so I can let these tears fall.’ Slim tried to tell himself he wouldn’t break down, but he had gotten used to actually sharing his emotions over the past few weeks. Sans had told him multiple times that it was okay to cry. That it was okay to show emotion. Now, however, he knew that if he didn’t want that woman to end up hurt or even in the hospital, he needed to keep the tears at bay until they were a decent bit away from her. Red looked royally pissed, and while Slim didn’t know him very well yet, he had no doubt his soulmate could do some damage.

“Yeah, get the hell out of here, freaks.” The woman sneered, prompting a sigh from Slim. He figured he at least tried to get out of there without too much fuss. 

~~

Red clenched his jaw, a growl slipping between his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to tear this woman's face off, but he knew it wouldn't do him any good. It made him feel weak. It made him feel helpless. 

"Consider yerself lucky I got my better half here with me today, bitch." He'd write the worst god damn review he could manage later. Maybe he'd sneak some roaches into the kitchen and slip an anonymous tip to a health inspector. Yeah.. Yeah that'd make him feel better.

Letting his eye lights flicker back into existence, he gave a final glare then turned to leave. He didn't want Slim to spend another second here. He all but slammed the door behind them as they left.

"Stupid fucking racist asshole human BITCH!" He growled as they walked away. "She had no god damn right talkin that way ta you! I oughta get her ass fuckin fired!"

~~

Slim just hummed in response. He kept his gaze down, desperately trying to hold back the tears that welled in his sockets. He wished he had never tried on the stupid skirt in the first place. Seeing that skeletons didn’t even have a true gender, he didn’t even fully understand where the woman was coming from. That didn’t keep the words from hurting, however.

He had finally pulled up the courage to try it, but he supposed skirts just didn’t look good on him. Who would look at a battered up skeleton like him and think that he was cute, anyways? The skirt was just him... ignoring that he’d never be anything more than damaged goods.

Red had probably just taken him out this morning because he felt bad for the wretch that called himself his soulmate.

~~

It didn't take him long to realize Slim's silence wasn't a good one. As he glanced up at the other he felt his soul drop to his feet.

There were tears...

Shit.

"Woah. Hey, hey!" he stopped, taking both of slim's hands in his own, his face a picture of concern. "C'mere, Sweetheart." He tugged Slim over to a little side alley to give the two of them a bit of privacy.

"Don'cha take a damn thing that woman said ta heart, ok? She was just a bitch who didn't know what the hell she was talkin about." He had to stand on his toes, but thanks to Slim's slumped posture Red was able to reach his face and try to wipe away the gathering tears before they had a chance to fall. He gave Slim a small, crooked smile. “C’mon. Tears don’t belong on such a cute face.”

~~

Slim’s breath hitched, and he knelt so he could hug Red close to him. He felt so small, even when he towered over Red. He buried his head in Red’s shoulder, shuddering with quiet sobs. “m’sorry, m’sorry, m’sorry”

He chastised himself for getting in Red’s personal space like this, trying to tell himself to stop being so pathetic. He was so weak to his emotions, as his brother had always pointed out. He tried to force himself to back away, to quit clenching fistfuls of Red’s jacket in his hands. When he failed to control himself, his breathing picked up, panic starting to settle in his bones.

Why couldn’t he just let go?

~~

Red jerked as Slim all but collapsed against him, wrapping those long arms around him and tugging him close. For half a second he stood frozen, trying to process the fact that a very tall monster had just come at him and it hadn't hurt. then the apologies and the sobs registered and his own arms found their way around Slim's shoulders.

"S'alright, Sweetheart, I gotcha. Ain't nothin ta be sorry fer." He fell back into the role of comfort giver easily, like it was an old dusty glove that had been shoved to the back of his sock drawer. He recalled days when Edge would have nightmares. Days when Edge had dealt with people who hadn't shown him the proper kindness. He recalled holding his little brother and soothing his hurts and his insecurities. he wondered if Slim's brother had ever done this for him...

"Don'chu worry bout a thing, Sweetheart." He pet a hand gently over the back of Slim's skull, his other rubbing small circles over one of his shoulder blades. "We can stay just like this fer as long as ya need."


	3. Chapter 3

Slim relaxed slightly at the words. He didn’t know if Red accepted the hug out of pity or if he actually wanted to be there for him, but he decided that for just one moment it didn’t matter. His soulmate was there, rubbing soothing circles along his back.

Slim let himself lose, crying silently into Red’s shoulder. He imagined that all of the pain was flowing out of him with the tears. All the guilt and discomfort that woman had managed to heap onto him. The pain of getting kicked out by his own brother. The worry that he was just a burden to Sans and Papyrus. The worry that one day he’d be flooded with Red’s pain for just a moment before never feeling it again.

He cried for what felt like forever, but when the tears finally faded he felt worlds better. He was exhausted, from both tears and lack of sleep, but he was able to deal with all of his issues now that he had gotten a good cry in. He let out a small chuckle. “I see why Sans is always telling me it’s okay to cry now. I really needed that. Thank you, Red.”

Slim pulled back from the hug he had trapped Red in, wiping the remaining tears from his face with his sleeve. He let out a large yawn, blushing. “I could really go for a nap right about now. Sorry that we never ended up getting breakfast.”

~~

"Heh. Don't even worry bout it." He said, reluctantly pulling away from Slim. he'd missed things like this. Not necessarily the emotional fallout, but the feeling of being there for someone. He'd missed the feeling of worth it gave him, to let someone lean on him for a bit.

"Well, heh.. This was a far 'cry' from what I'd planned fer this mornin. But spendin time with ya ain't 'tear'able, no matter what we're doin." He grinned, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "How bout I walk ya home or somethin?"

It really had been a shitty attempt at a date, though. He wouldn't be surprised if Slim just wanted to call it a day. Red hadn't handled this very well... He'd taken Slim somewhere awful and then he hadn't been able to control his temper. he wouldn't blame the guy for wanting some space after this...

~~

Slim rocked back up to his feet, before shyly holding his hand out in a silent invitation to hold hands. “Please. I don’t want to be alone right now.”

Now that he had taken a step back and calmed down, Slim was able to recognize that he had been dealing with a bad combination of his depression and anxiety. It wasn’t the first time he had an episode like that, though it was the fastest he’d calmed down from a panic attack. Red had cut through it like it was nothing, stopping it before it got too bad.

Still, even now he knew it probably wasn’t safe to be alone quite yet. He wasn’t sure if it had fully passed. Red was a buffer against the awful thoughts, and Slim wasn’t quite ready to go back to the storm.

~~

Slim offered his hand and a certain tenseness left Red's shoulders. His grin eased into a smile that felt a little more real as he accepted that hand.

"Sure." He responded simply. Slim towered over him and his hand engulfed red's much smaller one, but it felt like Red was the one holding Slim up. leisurely, he led Slim back out of the alley onto the sidewalk and started towards Sans' house.

"Hey uh... Sorry bout all this..." He forced out, his guilt making it hard to keep quiet any longer. "This was a pretty shitty first date... Or, well, an attempt at one anyway..." He stuffed his free hand into his pocket, claws digging into the lining.

~~

Slim sighed, giving Red’s hand a gentle squeeze. “We’ll just have to make the next one that much better to make up for it.” He paused for a moment, “That is, if you want there to be a next one.”

~~

Red's eyes shot up to meet Slim's. "Y-you- You uh... Ya really wanna try again?" His sockets were wide, his voice bleeding hope. Dammit, he was sounding stupid again. "I-I mean! yeah! Yeah of course I'd like there ta be a next time!" He'd really been starting to think he'd blown it.

~~

Slim sent Red a small smile, relieved. “I’ve been trying to get better about my off moods, but as you just saw...” He trailed off, looking down slightly ashamed.

“I’m not perfect, but I really want to get to know you, Red. You were already a big part of my life, even before I knew who you were. I’m terrified that I’m going to mess this up. But for the first time in a long while, I want something for myself. Not for my brother, not for my friends, but for me. I want to be able to learn about my soulmate. To know what kind of a monster he is. To be by the side of the person fate tells me would be the best match I could hope for.” Slim turned his gaze back to Red, and smiled. He smiled so wide that his cheeks burned.

“So yes, I want there to be a next time.”

~~

Red's face burned. Slim's heartfelt, /honest/ words left him floored. His soul mate really cared about him. Wanted to /know/ him. And he said it so sweetly, like it was some kind of forbidden dream he'd only just gotten the courage to want.

And then that /smile/. Dear stars above the universe had blessed him with an angel!

He choked, unable to form words. Ducking his head he pulled his hood up over his glowing skull. After a moment he was able to croak out, "H-holy shit. I don't deserve ya..."

~~

“I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you!” Slim was emphatic trying to get his point across. “You’re so nice to me. And you were more than willing to get that lady to stop, despite barely knowing me. And you didn’t even complain when I broke down on you.”

He clutched the hand he had trapped in his own tightly. He was very happy that Red was going to stay with him, but he wanted Red to see just how amazing he was to him.

~~

His chest felt so full. He almost couldn't breathe. He didn't know what to say. What on earth were you supposed to say to something like that? Everything he could think of just felt so inadequate...

'I ain't that great.'

'You deserve so much more.'

'I could've done better...'

Yeah... Inadequate and would probably get him yelled at, given the way Slim was speaking. After a moment of silence, he squeezed Slim's hand back. 

"O-ok then... ya wanna get ta know me, right? Well uh.. H-how bout we play twenty questions then. While we uh... Walk." He shyly peered up from under his hood, a small, timid smile on his face. "I'd like ta get ta know you too."

~~

Slim directed his smile back towards Red, his purr starting up again. “Hmm, for question one, how about How old are you?”

~~

"He, startin out easy huh?" He relaxed a little as they walked, absently tracing his thumb over Slim's hand. "Twenty six. How bout you?"

~~

“It was the first thing I could think of. I’m twenty-three.” Slim’s purr was steady now, and he enjoyed the feeling of Red’s hand in his own. “Your turn.”

~~

Red let the sound of Slim's purr wash over and through him. It was relaxing, easing away what they'd just gone through a short time ago. They were walking past the park now, where Red usually worked. It was still too early for any kids to be out at the playground, but there was already at least one jogger that he could see. He focused more on the trees, though. A lot of them were flowering and it made the air smell nice.

"Let's cut through the park here." He tugged lightly at their joined hands and led Slim to the jogging track. It really wouldn't cut down on the distance they had to walk much, in fact it would probably add a few minutes of travel time, but Red figured that would be just fine.

"Twenty three huh? You been through school yet?" He reached to push his hood back down and cast his eyes up at Slim for a moment. He looked good with a backdrop of flowers and sunlight. Red quickly looked back to the path, his face dusting pink.

~~

Slim followed Red casually, letting his soulmate guide him. He didn’t mind if it did or didn’t cut time out of their walk, seeing as he was exhausted yet wanted to keep spending time with Red. Maybe he could convince Red to stick around the house for a little bit.

“M’Lord paid for me to get an associate’s degree. I had mostly picked out general ed stuff, but by the end of the first semester one of my professors encouraged me to take a heaver class load and offered to help pay what m’Lord didn’t. He also helped me get a few scholarships. I ended up with a bachelors in astronomy. I might return to school in the future to finish a major in astronomy and eventually maybe even a full degree in astrophysics.” Slim looked back on his short college years fondly. Professor Serif had pushed him hard, and it paid off when Slim managed to finish his bachelors in only two and a half years. Black had even told Slim himself that he was proud of him. That had been one of the best days of his life.

~~

"Star nerd huh? I can respect that. Maybe we can go star gazin some time and ya can tell me all about it." It was nice to hear Slim's brother had at least provided that much care. he was an asshole, but at least he'd given enough of a shit to send his little bro to school. 

"I used ta be inta that kinda stuff when I was younger, but uh... Guess I sorta fell out of it as I got older." He'd started putting a lot more focus on Edge and his schooling , rather than dabble in frivolous hobbies. Money had been tight, so he couldn't afford things like telescopes or vacation days. 

~~

Slim gave Red’s hand a small squeeze, picking up on his tone and figuring there was more to the story. He wouldn’t ask, but he figured that he could at least offer to let Red use his nice telescope and tell him about the stars. “When the angel freed our Underground, the stars were one of the first things I saw. They took a special place in my soul. I- back in the Underground, I was always so afraid. There was a fine line between life and death for me. Everything down there was about becoming strong. Monsters with less than three hundred HoPe were forbidden from having children. Monsters with less than sixty HoPe were... If it wasn’t for m’Lord, I would have been dragged to the guard to be nothing more than a scrap of exp for some guard in training. M’Lord claimed me as property, and since he was one of the strongest, the queen humored him.”

“But if I stepped one toe out of line, showed any signs of being more than a subservient slave... I was really spunky as a kid. M’Lord had to beat that out of me. I don’t believe he ever enjoyed it, however. He did so much for me. That’s why I...” Slim’s voice grew soft, and his purr ground to a halt.

“That’s why I don’t understand why he kicked me out.”

~~

His grip tightened on Slim's hand. he stared hard at the ground as they walked. Slim had been through so much... But of course Red already had an idea about that, didn't he. He'd felt those beatings. He'd experienced that pain. Every strike on Slim's body through his life may as well have been landed on Red as well, so he knew...

But hearing the reasoning behind it didn't sit well. It had been easier to tell himself it was just some asshole hurting his soulmate. It had been easy to let the anger and the resentment fester. Never towards Slim of course. Never towards the person he was sharing the pain with. But towards the person inflicting it.

Now... Now his soul felt heavy and twisted because he... he understood. He understood the kind of mindset one could have to do something like that... It made him sick to think he could actually feel that way. Like Slim's abuse had been justified in any way. Like all of that pain had somehow been ok in some sick way... It wasn't ok! It wasn't ok for anyone to be hurt like that!

But the abuse had continued even after they'd been free'd, hadn't it... Red remembered nursing broken bones and suffering through the pain of having them busted again not long after. He remembered tripping and breaking a glass when it felt like his knee had been dislocated. He remembered laying up at night to the feeling of his ribs being kicked and cracked and fractured. Those things had happened while already safely on the surface, away from the sort of political structure that had made such a thing necessary...

"It sucks..." His voice felt rough, almost unwelcome in the calm of morning. "Maybe... Maybe one day ya can ask him..." It was all he could offer. 

~~

Slim sighed, uttering a soft “I hope so.”

They walked in silence for a couple minutes, Slim not quite feeling up to continuing their game of twenty questions. However, Red’s thumb kept rubbing those circles on the back of his, which did wonders at keeping him calm. His purr had come back as a quiet hum as they walked.

“To me, a star represents hope. After all, they were the first thing I saw when we reached the surface. M’lord got a lot nicer once he realized we were safe. He gave me a new name, so I wouldn’t have to relive parts of what I went through down there. Hearing my old name still puts me back into that old mindset sometimes. But when I look at the stars...”

“I feel so free.”

~~

The exited the park in the stretch of silence that followed Slim's quiet statement of hope. red wished he could do something, anything, to help Slim feel better. It felt like so little to just walk by him and hold his hand... But Red had never been especially good with comforting words...

Eventually, Slim continued, this time his tone sounding a little more uplifting. Red glanced up at him, then let his eyes trail to the sky. He knew there were stars there, he couldn't see them right now, but he knew they were there, sparkling behind the blue, waiting for their chance to light the night sky. He imagine he could feel a glimmer of what Slim was describing.

"Heh." he smiled softly. Then his smile stretched a little mischievously. "So I s'pose ya could say that first night ya could galax-see the stars was when things 'star'ted gettin better?" He winked up at Slim, trying to provoke another of those smiles he was growing to adore.

~~

Slim snorted in surprise, a small smile taking residence on his face. He bumped lightly into Red’s shoulder. “You’re as bright as any star, Red.”

Slim’s tone might have been teasing, but he meant every word. Red was the first star that Slim had dared to hope he might one day get to see. Even on the worst days, when he almost resented that his soulmate gave him more pain to deal with, he still felt the bond give him hope.

~~

There it was. He even got a little bit of a laugh to go with it! But then Slim had to go and say what he did and Red had to look away, his skull taking on a bright hue once more. 

"D-don't say shit like that, it's embarassin." He grumbled, tone closer to a whine than a reprimand.

~~

“See? That’s what I’m talking about! You’re practically glowing.” Slim retorted, smile warping into a mischievous grin.

~~

"N-no I aint! Shut up!" he pulled his hood back up and hid. He supposed this was Slim's 'spunky' side showing. It was cute. It really was cute. But Red would have liked it better if he hadn't been the target of it. It had his soul doing all sorts of flip flops in his chest.

~~

Slim burst out laughing, his chuckles warring with the purr that had grown in volume. Red’s blush was adorable, and Slim decided in that moment he was going to be flustering him a lot just to see it in the future.

“I’m just teasing, dear.” He reached to move Red’s hood out of the way as he spoke, then pressed a small kiss to the top of his skull.

~~

He instinctively flinched a little when Slim reached for his hood, but didn't fight the move. The Slim kissed his skull and suddenly and part that hadn't already been colored was now brightly glowing with his magic.

How was he supposed to deal with this sort of thing? No one had ever been this openly affectionate with him! He didn't know what he was supposed to do! There was practically steam coming off his face, it felt so warm.

Thankfully, a distraction came in the form of a certain two story house, decorated in all year giftmas lights.

"O-oh look! W-we're here!" He walked a little more quickly, creating a little more space between the two of them so he could damn well compose himself. Not that he really /could/ put much space between them. Not unless he was willing to let go of Slim's hand. Which he wasn't.

~~

Slim let another few chuckles past as Red got as far from him as possible while still holding tight to his hand. He opened the door to the house quietly, before turning to Red. He spent a moment thinking.

Should he invite Red in for a little while? It wasn’t his house, but Sans had mentioned that he could invite others over if he felt the need. But was it appropriate to invite your date into the house after one trainwreck of a date?

In the end he decided he just wanted to spend more time with Red, especially after that trainwreck of a date. “W-would you like to come in?”

He cursed his slight stutter, looking at Red with hopeful sockets.

~~

Red cursed that cute fucking face as wide, hopeful sockets turned towards him, pleading with him to go inside. Problem was, this was Sans' house. And yesterday, Sans had learned a thing or two that Red would have been happy never sharing with anyone... And knowing his friend, they guy probably wouldn't be able to just leave well enough alone... Red would be perfectly ok with avoiding the guy for a while. 

And if Papyrus had learned about it, then God save him...

But saying no to that face was not something Red had it in him to do. "Uh.. S-sure. Why not. I still got some time ta kill." He smiled nervously. Maybe Sans and Papyrus would be away at work or something?

~~

Slim smiled happily, leading Red inside. He knew Papyrus would be at the university right now, it being the day he had classes that ran most of the day. With Sans it was a toss up, since he had multiple part-time jobs and only one of them had a set schedule. However, when Sans didn’t come to great them, he figured he was at work.

He led Red over to the couch, sitting down with a tired groan. “Ugh it’s not even noon and I’m already exhausted.”

~~

Red followed Slim in and breathed a little easier when he didn't hear a greeting from anyone else. Of course, that also meant he was alone here... With Slim... His soul mate... His face dusted pink at the thought, but he immediately pushed it away. he was /not/ about to do anything that might make Slim uncomfortable.

Standing by the couch, Red fidgeted a little, feeling a bit out of place in someone else's home. "A-are ya sure ya want me hangin around right now? I mean... If yer so tired then maybe it'd be better if ya took a nap..."

~~

“I-I don’t want to be alone.” Slim looked away while he was talking, unable to meet Red’s eyes. He felt bad about asking Red to stay when he was uncomfortable, but he needed the company. He worried that the bad thoughts would come back once he was alone, and he wouldn’t have Red there to help him calm down.

~~  
Oh... Right... Just because he'd gotten Slim to laugh on the way back didn't mean what happened before wasn't still affecting him. Slim had broken down pretty hard. That sort of thing didn't leave you alone just because someone told you a few jokes. Red would know. He /should have/ known...

He gave Slim a soft smile and stepped over to take a seat next to him. "Whatever ya need, Sweetheart."

He leaned his lightly against Slim's side and let his eyes wander the room. "So what would ya like ta do then? Watch tv? Continue our game? It was yer turn ya know..." He nudged Slim with his shoulder. "Or ya could just go ahead n' take that nap. I ain't no cop. I won't a-rest ya fer sleepin durin the day."

~~

“Uhh, do you have any jobs other than the hot dog stand?” Slim decided it would probably be better to keep talking with Red, instead of falling asleep. Red may have offered, but he still felt it a bit rude of him to fall asleep after begging Red to stay.

He leaned back, getting comfy on the couch next to Red. He was really tired, and being home didn’t help matters any.

~~

Red stuffed his hands into his pockets and sat back, letting himself get comfortable. "Well, some nights I bus tables at a little bar over on thirteenth street. Had a bit of a debt wracked up with the owner a' the place, but he's been lettin me work it off."

~~

“Hmm” Slim hummed tiredly, “I work at an observatory a few miles out of town. I don’t do too much, mostly just make sure the telescopes are set to the right places when we’re trying to watch certain things and clean the place. The staff is really nice though, and it pays well for being a glorified intern’s job. They’ll also pay my way through getting a masters if I decide to go back to school.”

Slim let a small yawn slip, closing his eyes for a long blink. “Your turn.”

~~

"Heh. Sounds like ya really 'scoped' out a nice job. Betcha have a lotta fun there, huh?" He chuckled softly, leaning a bit against Slim's side. The guy was warm and surprisingly soft.

"A'right, lessee..." He let his eyes fall closed, thinking. "Mmm... When's yer birthday?"

~~

“July seventeenth. I’m a Cancer.” Slim yawned again, “Very loyal.”

Slim didn’t even notice when he’d closed his eyes, but was too tired to care. He was very comfortable, and Red’s presence was like a warm blanket.

~~

"Don't think I need a star chart ta see that." He smirked. Of course Slim was loyal. Just listening to the guy talk about his brother could convince anyone. Red didn't know much about the whole horoscope thing, but if that was one of the traits for cancer, then it definitely fit. "Mine's October twenty-eighth. What's that make me, Starchild?"

~~

“Scorpio. Passionate. Makes lasting friends, and likes to be right.” Slim yawned again, “It fits you.”

While trying to come up with another question, Slim drifted off. The hand still clutching Red’s loosened in it’s grip. Slim felt safe with Red, and it showed. He didn’t fall asleep near others often. When Undyne had stayed over for a sleepover, he had lain awake the whole night, despite the fact that she had ended up sleeping in Papyrus’ room.

~~

"Heh heh. If ya say so." He leaned a little more against Slim's side, feeling warm and content. Slim smelled like maple and something earthy. 

He waited a tick before he prompted. "It's yer turn... Slim?" Looking up, he found the other's sockets closed. He was breathing softly, deep and slow. Red chuckled and turned a little to nuzzled his face against his sleeping soul mate. 

"Sweet dreams, Sweetheart." It didn't take long before Red also found himself nodding off, lulling by the soothing presence and the distinct hum of Slim's magic.


	4. Chapter 4

Sans couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight that greeted him when he got home. Slim and Red were both asleep on the couch. Red was pressed into Slim’s side, a sight that Sans knew he was probably only seeing since they were asleep. He fished out his phone and took a picture before burying it deep in a few folders so no one would see it if they decided to snoop.

Just because he wanted to remember this sweet moment didn’t mean that he was gonna risk any of the monster’s from either skeletons’ Undergrounds finding it and using it against them.  
He moved around the living room fairly quietly, grabbing Slim’s blanket and laying it over the two monsters.

~~

Red felt something settle over him and it jarred him awake, his eyes snapping open as his body went rigid. He'd lived his life with a near constant case of paranoia. Some days it had been the only thing that kept him alive. 

It took him only a moment to take in his surroundings and assess the danger level. Slim was right next to him, warming him and breathing gently. Sans was standing over them... Red's eye lights shrank and his face dusted with color. 

"S-sans! What're-..." He noticed the blanket then and his face warmed a little more.

~~

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. How was the date?” Sans ran a few fingers over Slim’s skull, pressing a quick kiss to the top of his skull. Slim stirred, murmuring a small “bro?” that made Sans smile before settling back down.

~~

Red sat up and away from Slim, careful not to jostle or disturb him. It was embarrassing enough to have been in that position in the first place, but to be caught by someone else?

He arranged the blanket to cover only Slim, then looked up too see sand petting and kissing Slim's head. His eye lights sparked for a moment before he pushed down the little surge of emotion.

It was fine. Sans wasn't doing anything wrong. The actions damn near oozed /familial/ intent. He didn't need to be responding like that.

"It was fine." He responded stiffly, not really wanting to get into what had happened.

~~

“Could I talk with you a minute? Got a few things you might like to know.” Sans didn’t like how tense Red was around him now. He had spent a good deal of time thinking about everything, and had come to the conclusion that if Red didn’t want him to say anything about the wounds he nursed, then he wouldn’t say anything. Red likely had his reasons for continuing to stay with whoever was hurting him, so if Slim was fine with it than Sans would force himself to keep quiet.

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing Sans wanted to talk about, but it was the main thing. He didn’t want one of his friends to be afraid that he would do something behind their back. He really cared about Red, despite mostly having just having spent time with him at the hot dog stand.

~~

Red narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but reminded himself that sans was his friend. They should probably talk about this sooner or later anyway. He'd just been hoping to push it closer to the 'later' side of things.

He sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. "A'right, sure." Besides, it sounded like sans had a bit more to talk about than just the obvious.

~~

Sans tried to suppress the twinge on hurt he felt at Red’s suspicion. He knew it was likely just because of Red’s past that he was so distrusting, but it still stung a bit that Red didn’t trust him.

“Alright, let’s head outside so we don’t wake Slim.” He walked over to the door, waiting for Red to follow him outside.

~~

Red stood but cast a worried look back at Slim. He hadn't wanted to be alone... Well. It wasn't likely that slim would wake anytime soon. And Red would just be outside. He reached over and tugged the blanket to cover Slim a little more snugly before following Sans out the door.

~~

Sans took a deep breath as he closed the door. It was going to be painful to offer to turn a blind eye, but he knew that if he didn’t this tension between them wouldn’t change. “You know I’m not stupid. I can put together that with the number of injuries you’ve had to deal with you aren’t just clumsy or what have you. But I also know that you’re no pushover. You’ve left yourself in that position for this long, and you probably don’t mean to leave it any time soon. If I’m wrong, and you do need help, or if you change your mind about staying where you are, I’ll always be willing to help. But otherwise, unless it gets much worse I’ll stay out of it. This decision is between you and Slim.”

Sans said his mind quickly, eyes shut. He hated leaving this like it is, but he knew he had to respect his friend and his choices.

~~

Red stared, a little dumbfounded. He hadn't expected this. He'd thought-... Tale monsters always seemed so eager to help anyone they thought was in trouble. He'd just sort of assumed Sans wouldn't be any different. Red had expected him to shove his nose right where it didn't belong and probably make everything a lot more complicated than it had to be. But... Here he was... offering to stand aside and leave things up to Red's judgement. Well... And Slim's he supposed...

He couldn't help but feel a little touched that Sans was willing to trust him on this. That he trusted Red to know what he could and couldn't handle.

"Uh... Th-thanks... Fer that. It uh... It's really not as bad as ya might think." He looked away, a hand scratching absently at the back of his skull.

~~

Sans sighed at the comment. He’d been doing some research into abuse since Slim had entered his life. Often the victims would downplay it, thinking they were at fault, or that it wasn’t a big deal. It was a trap that sucked them up and spat people out as hollow shells.

“Don’t get me wrong, this whole thing pisses me off. I’ve not got a lot of patience for abusers, as I’ve learned when trying to deal with Slim’s brother. If this gets any worse I won’t keep turning a blind eye. But I really do enjoy having you as a friend, Red. You’re a great guy, and you don’t deserve to go through that pain.” Sans sighed, before giving himself a mental shake of the head.

“I’m going to change the subject though, before we end up arguing about it. I wanted to tell you a bit about how Slim ended up here. You’ve probably already figured that he’s a pretty bad abuser, right?”

~~

Red bristled at both the barely concealed threat towards his brother and the implication that Sans thought he knew what Red deserved. He didn't know shit! Red appreciated that he cared or whatever, but he didn't have any right to weigh in on this.

At least he had enough sense to change topics pretty much immediately. Otherwise there really would have been a fight there.

"Yeah..." He practically growled, still trying to calm himself down. Bringing up Slim's brother certainly didn't help with that. "Ya could say I felt it in my bones." He continued, his smile dark.

~~

“Well, the two of them are part of one of the worst Undergrounds we’ve seen. Most of the monsters from that place are still in quarantine, seeing as they refuse to see that the majority of monster kind does not in fact want another war. I think besides the two of them, there are only about five others from that place allowed to go out into the rest of the world. Anyway, about a month and a half ago Black- that’s Slim’s brother- came to me to ask a favor. I think he only came to me because I was with Frisk when they broke his barrier. He wasn’t very happy about the conversation.” Sans let out a low chuckle, remembering how Black had looked. It was like he was being dragged through a meat grinder while constipated.

“He told me a bit about how he’d had to treat his brother to keep him alive. It was pretty appalling. Then he practically begged me to take Slim in. He had hated how he was forced to treat his bro, but by the time he reached the surface it was just habit to him or something. I don’t know, he showed me enough evidence that I could see that he had been trying to stop it. He had me promise not to tell Slim why he was being kicked out, though seeing how bad Slim took it, I kinda regretted making that promise.” Sans glanced over at the door that was open just a crack. Slim was not very good at eavesdropping.

“Of course, I never promised anything about telling my friends about it. And if someone just happened to be eavesdropping as I told a friend about it, well, I can’t be blamed for it, can I?” Sans let out a low chuckle when the door shut firmly.

Slim retreated from the door with wide sockets. He sat on the couch heavily, puffing out a large sigh. Black hadn’t just kicked him out for being worthless? Black had been trying to stop the beatings? Well, Slim had pieced together that Black was trying to change, he just didn’t expect that his brother had given up on anything.

It was such a relief, though. Slim had been agonising over it for the past three weeks, so knowing the truth took a large weight off his shoulders. His brother didn’t hate him. His brother had kicked him out to protect him.

Relieved tears started to trail from his sockets.

~~

Red listened intently as Sans started speaking. The stuff he said about Slim's underground did line up with the things he already knew. Both from what Slim had already told him and the things he'd heard on the news and the like. Red's own underground had been shit and a lot of the monsters had had to be put through rehab programs, but he remembered wondering how much worse that 'Swapfell' underground had to have been to only let out the five or so monsters it did.

Knowing Slim was from /that/ underground was unsettling, but it did explain quite a bit...

Hearing what Black's reasons were for what he did... Hearing his side of things... He got that sick feeling in the pit of his soul again, the god damn /understanding/ twisting him up. God dammit! He didn't want to sympathize with that prick! But knowing that Black had basically had that behavior forced on him and that he was struggling to stop that behavior now did indeed have his sympathy welling up. To know that he'd even recognized the fact that he was struggling and had taken steps to ensure things got better was honestly admirable. Slim's 'asshole abuser' was turning into a real person in Red's mind and he didn't like it. He liked it even less that he halfway thought he might actually like the guy. It felt like a betrayal of sorts, but knowing anything, that would probably make Slim happy...

Speaking of Slim...

Somehow he hadn't noticed his soul mate's tall figure peeking out from the barely cracked door. He jolted for a moment, startled. He spared sans only a glance before he made for the door himself. Sans seemed to be done talking to him. Even if he wasn't, though, Slim took priority. He did pause right before he opened the door though, and muttered a short 'thanks' to Sans. The guy really was a good friend.

Slipping inside, he made his way back to the living room where he found Slim on the couch once more, tears in his sockets.

"Hey..." He stepped slowly over to Slim, taking in his expression and posture and trying to piece together what the taller skeleton was feeling. It seemed positive, but seeing those tears still had his soul jerking in his chest with the need to comfort. He placed a hand on Slim's shoulder, his thumb rubbing gentle circles through the thick coat. "Ya doin ok?"

~~

Sans’ smile turned up when he saw Red chase after Slim. He had been planning to give Red the ‘if you hurt my new brother you’ll have a bad time’ talk, but he figured that Red had no intention of doing so. As he was getting to know Red, Sans got the feeling that he would tear himself apart before hurting Slim. If he did ever hurt him, he’d probably feel more than enough regret without Sans pouncing on him for it.

Sans took a shortcut to his room, putting on some headphones to try and give the two downstairs some privacy.

Slim smiled at Red, using his sleeve to wipe away his tears. “I’m just so glad. I thought he might hate me, and that was why he kicked me out. But it’s fine now. I know that he does care. I have hope that I can see him again someday.”

~~

So it /was/ positive then. he wasn't sure why Black had wanted to keep his reasons from Slim in the first place. Maybe some kind of pride issue? Regardless, he was glad Slim had found out and that the reasons were good.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Slim;s shoulders. "M'happy fer ya." And he was. He really was. Even if a small part of him sparked with jealousy. Slim's brother loved him. And Slim knew his brother loved him. Even if things between them weren't that great at the moment. What Red wouldn't give to have that little bit of solace himself...

~~

Slim returned the hug happily, purr rumbling in his chest. “Thank you, Red.”

Slim wasn’t even fully sure what he was thanking Red for, just that he felt like Red had helped him learn these things. Already in the two days he’s known his soulmate, he’s started to love him. He was quick to anger, and he couldn’t take a compliment, but he was also protective and kind.

“You’re amazing.”

~~

Red's face warmed and his arms tightened for a fraction of a second before he got himself under control and relaxed. Slim needed to stop saying stuff like that or we was going to be walking around with a fucking permanent blush. 

"I-I didn't do nothin... Should be thankin Sans. He's a pretty cool guy, ya know? M'glad he found a way ta tell ya the stuff ya needed ta hear." He pressed his face a little into the fluff of Slim's hood, thankful for the temporary hiding place.

~~

“Yeah, Sans has done a lot for me. He and Papyrus have become like brothers to me.” Slim had a far off look in his eyes as he spoke. He remembered how Sans had found him holding back tears on the sidewalk, only a few small boxes of possessions near him. Even knowing that it was planned didn’t take away the gratitude he felt for the monster who had swooped in and given him a place to stay.

He remembered Papyrus gathering him up into a hug so warm that he finally cried for the first time in years. He had taught Slim how to have fun. Took him to escape rooms and other places with puzzles designed to amuse instead of kill.

But... he also remembered meeting a new skeleton in the park on a clear spring day. The skeleton had taken him on a date, only to protect him from the cruel words of a racist. How he had held him through one of his worst breakdowns. How he had fallen asleep with him on the couch while playing twenty questions.

“Those two aren’t the only ones who have helped me, though. There’s a certain small skeleton who I’d like to be near for a long time yet.”

~~

"Ah jeez... " Red pressed a little further into Slim's hood, though it probably did't do much to hide the fact that his whole damn skull was glowing now. Did Slim really have to do that? Because Red didn't think slim needed to do that. It almost felt like it was on purpose. The little shit...

~~

“You’re going to have to get used to compliments, dear. I don’t hesitate to give them to people I think deserve them.” Slim chuckled at the red skulled skeleton. He was tempted to press a kiss to the top of that skull, but decided it would be best to wait until Red wasn’t a lightbulb. Instead he just rested his cheek there and rubbed his back soothingly.

~~

Red sighed but chuckled. "Yer an asshole."

After a few moments spent gathering himself again, he pulled away. His face still felt a tad warm, but hopefully that was just from being snuggled up in the soft fluff of Slim's jacket.

"You all good then? Cause I should probably be gettin ta-.." he glanced around for a clock as he was speaking and when he caught sight of one his sockets went wide. "Oh fuck! Is that really the time? Shit. we slept longer'n I thought we did."

Despite the building panic, he looked back to Slim and hesitated. "Ya cool if I get goin?" He was already an hour late, but if Slim even hinted that he wanted Red to stick around longer, he would.

~~

Slim’s own sockets widened when he saw that they had been sleeping for a few hours. “Yikes, no wonder I feel so well rested. Thanks for keeping me company, though. You’re good to go.”

Slim paused for a moment, temptation brewing. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, before reaching forward and giving Red a peck to the cheek.

~~

Red nodded and paused for a moment, deliberating over how to best say goodbye for now. Then Slim beat him to the punch. Red couldn't help the small flinch, his eyes snapping shut just before contact.

Then he heard the little clack of bone on bone. Felt the soft warmth of Slim's teeth against him, the barest spark of magic igniting his nerves and sending his soul on a fluttering rampage in his chest cavity.

When he opened his eyes again his eye lights were huge. His skull was glowing brighter than ever and he had no idea what to fuckin say. His mouth opened and closed a few times, only the barest croak of a noise making it out before he gave up and ducked his head, pulling his hood up to hide his embarrassment.

"S-s-see ya later then!" his voice was far too high and it cracked, but the words were out and now he could damn well leave. He turned and all but bolted for the door.

~~

Slim couldn’t help but laugh at Red’s reaction. His small blush from his action held nothing on his soulmate’s. It helped to dull the sting of loneliness that was already building. Red hadn’t even been gone for a minute and Slim already missed him. 

It made Slim feel the slightest bit of a lovestruck fool.

He was so glad that they were on the surface, where he was free to fall in love with his soulmate. Where he could do all of those things that other monsters from his Underground would have scoffed at.

Slim spent a few minutes just being grateful. After a while though, he started to dig in one of his boxes. This box held a few supplies for Slim’s favorite pastime. He pulled out one of his nicer sketchbooks and his best set of pencils.

It was time to draw his new favorite person.


	5. Chapter 5

He was halfway through the park before he was able to calm his blush enough to push his hood back down. He sighed as he saw his hot dog stand come into view. It didn't look like anyone was lingering near the stand, but that wasn't to say no one had been by. He'd already been planning to come in late, but this was a bit later than he'd deemed acceptable. 

Partially because his brother liked to come by on his break to check on him... And Edge's break had been over for a while now...

Welp... He wasn't looking forward to /that/ conversation later...

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. and when he went to lock up it was with slow, deliberate movements. He did /not/ want to go home today... He'd gotten a few texts from Edge. All ignored since he knew exactly what they would say. That probably wasn't helping his case any, but he knew if he responded it would just make things worse. 

The sun had just finished setting when he came up to the front of their house. A simple, one story building with hardly any yard to speak of. Edge's sleek black car was in the driveway, letting Red know his brother was home. He took a breath and steeled himself before walking up to the front door and letting himself in.

Edge was on the couch, waiting for him.

"You were not at your station." His voice was low, dangerous. 

It was bad enough when Edge shouted, but when he got quiet that was when Red knew he was really angry. he shuffled a little in place, letting the door shut behind him with a quiet little snick. "Uh... Stand, a-actually-"

"What the fuck ever! You were not! There!" Edge growled, his fingers digging into his arms where they were crossed.

"S-sorry... I guess I just uh... Let time get away from me." Edge stood from the couch, his posture stiff. red almost didn't have the nerve to get the rest of the joke out, but it had always been one of his coping mechanisms. he needed something to keep that smile on his face. "Y'know how f-fast it can fly sometimes. H-heh."

He forced that smile now, even as his brother stormed over, scowl fixed on his face, and grabbed Red by his cervicals to pick him up and slam him against the door. He said a little apology to Slim in his head.

"Where were you!" Edge yelled in his face, red eyes blazing. "It's the one fucking responsibility you have!"

"I-I-I'm sorry, Boss!" Red gasped, little hands scrabbling at Edge's wrist. "I-I just- I-..." Edge threw him to the ground in the next moment and he landed on his bad arm with a short cry of pain. Then Edge kicked him onto his back and planted his foot in the middle of his sternum and pressed down.

"Tell me where you were. And don't you dare fucking lie to me or i swear I'll crack your damn ribs." His voice was low. red knew he would do it.

"Y-yesterday I met- ngh- I m-met my soulmate. H-heh..." His brother's foot eased off a little, his narrow sockets going wide. Hoping it was a sign of mercy, Red continued. "I-i just went ta see him this mornin'... Just lost track a' time s'all..."

The foot lifted from him the rest of the way and red almost breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up at his brother with a hint of hope. That hope was Dashed when Edge knelt over him and grabbed him by the jaw, sharp fingers digging into his soft face. He winced.

Edge's mind was racing, eyes wide and staring intently at Red's face. His brother had found his soulmate. His brother had /found/ his fucking /soul mate/.... And it was not Edge...

For a long time, Edge had been hurting his brother, praying he would one day be able to feel it. He prayed so fervently that the pain he inflicted on Red would come back to him, give him that little bit of promise that they would always be together, that Red might look at him one day not as his sibling, but as his lover. It had never happened, and it had /frustrated/ him. Which had only fed into his often volatile temper.

And now... Now Red had found his soulmate. He'd found the person who could take him away from Edge.

No...

He wouldn't let it happen...

"Don't you dare go see him again..." he growled, looking crazed.

Red sputtered, his soul crying out in his chest. "W-wha-"

Edge tightened his grip, cutting Red off and making him cry out as his jaw creaked. "I said you will not see him! You are not his! You are mine!!"

And then edge's sharp teeth were crashing against Red's and Red's eye light's guttered out. The hell was happening? What-... this had to be a nightmare. His little brother couldn't be-... 

Edge's fingers dug into the corner of his mouth, forcing his teeth apart so a spicy tongue could invade. At the first insistent push of his brother's magic behind his teeth, his senses finally came back to him. Both hands went to Edge's shoulders and pushed. He struggled to get his legs between him and Edge's suddenly far too close body. He gagged and instinctively tried to bite down, but his brother's fingers kept his teeth parted.

Unfortunately, Edge was physically a lot stronger than him. His struggles did nothing but annoy his brother. With a growl, edge grabbed his wrists and forced them over his head against the floor, grinding the bones together.

Red coughed when Edge's tongue left him. "Wh-what're ya-.. aagh!"

Edge squeezed his wrists tighter, a subtle crack coming from his already battered arm. "He can't have you. You're mine." Edge repeated, using his free hand to grab one of Red's ankles and force it to the side as Edge slotted himself against red's pelvis.

"They say your soulmate is supposed to feel all of the pain that you can. Do you suppose he can feel /this/?" The hand on his ankle gripped and twisted until the bone snapped, wrenching a short scream from the smaller skeleton.

"S-stop! Fuck! Nngh!" It hurt. It fucking hurt, but that wasn't what had his soul hammering in his chest. Fearful tears gathered in his sockets as he continued to try to squirm out of his brother's grasp, tried to get his free leg between them so that his fucking little brother wasn't pressed up against his crotch after having /kissed/ him.

"I hope he can. I hope he can feel every god damn thing I do to you so he knows! I want him to know that he can't have you!" He let go of Red's ankle, letting it fall to the floor with a thump that raced all the way up his leg. Then Edge was pulling at Red's shorts.

Red panicked, struggles kicking up a notch. "Wait! Wait, Boss! No! P-please! Plea-" His head snapped to the side as Edge struck him.

"Shut up! Stop fighting me! You've always told me you love me, brother. Now's your chance to prove it!"

In Red's daze, Edge was able to pull his shorts the rest of the way off. Red sobbed, his tired, pained body unable to put up any more of a fight when edge grabbed at his symphysis. shame raged through him as a spark of pleasure mixed with that particular pain. He prayed Slim hadn't been able to feel /that/.

Edge's fingers rubbed at him roughly, insistently, intent on getting him to form something. Red let his body go limp, turning to stare off into space as he tried to let his mind go anywhere but here. He tried to distance himself. Tried to block out the way the fingers between his legs chafed at him. He absolutely did /not/ think about how this could be affecting his sweet soul mate...

~~

Slim had finished the linework on his drawing when Sans came downstairs. “Hey, Slim. Papyrus is having a sleepover at Undyne’s, apparently she managed to wear him out pretty well when they were training. You up for takeout from Grillbz&Muffet’s?”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me.” Sans took a quick shortcut after Slim’s answer. Slim took the time to put up his art supplies. He was just sitting back on the couch when Sans arrived with the food. As always, Sans had gotten his own greasy burger. He had gotten something from the partner restaurant for Slim, a large danish that Muffet always put a good amount of syrup on for him. They ate mostly in silence until Slim let out a choked cry, dropping his food onto his plate. He hastily put it to the side so he wouldn’t knock it over if the pain on his back turned into a full beating.

He had to hold back a cry as he curled around his arm. It felt as if it had been crushed. He couldn’t hold back the tears when he thought about Red. “It’s so much worse now that I know who he is.” Slim justified to Sans, who was watching on in concern. 

He flinched again at the pressure on his chest. When it eased, he hoped desperately that the beating was over. It usually didn’t last much longer than that, especially since he was fairly sure Red’s arm was fully broken now. When his jaw started to hurt, he had to hold back a whine.

It seemed like this was going to be a bad one.

His wrists ached, and he looked at Sans with teary eyes. Sans moved forward to gently hug Slim, running his hand over his skull soothingly. He let out a horse shout of pain when his ankle started to burn. Another broken bone to be sure. Sans growled, hugging Slim tighter.

It had been hard enough to deal with when Sans just worried about Slim during these incidents. Now, however, he knew who was actually getting the beating in person. Red could be standoffish and mean, but he didn’t deserve getting beat like that so often.

Slim winced and the relatively moderate pain of a blow to the face. It would have been a worse feel were it not for the pain of two broken limbs.

He froze when he felt the first twinge of pain on his symphysis. He waited for it to pass, thinking that it must have been an accident. Red’s brother wouldn’t... Would he? The pain didn’t pass. It sat there insistently chafing and forcing a measure of pleasure. Slim was hardly able to keep his magic from forming at the sitimulation.

“No! No nonono.” Slim started to babble, leading Sans to pull away a bit. He was stunned as he saw anger in Slim’s expression. this was the first time he had seen Slim genuinely angry, much less as furious as he was.

“Sans! He-he’s raping him. Please, please.”

Sans’ magic ran cold. Suddenly he was glad he had thought to look up Red’s address. He warped to the front yard of the place, then used a window as reference to get inside. He saw a tall skeleton running fingers along Red’s pelvis, and he had to hold his temper. Red wouldn’t forgive him if he hurt this skeleton, he knew. However, Sans wasn’t going to let it continue. Not when Red was limp, expression vacant as obviously tried to distance himself from what was happening to him.

Sans was thankful for his status as Judge in that moment. Normally being literally the strongest monster usually wore on him, but in this case he was glad for it. It meant he could fling even a fell monster across the room and trap him in an alternating cage of white and blue bones. A blaster sat in front of the cage, just warning the skeleton what would happen if he dared to move.

He held Red gently with blue magic, not wanting to accidently hurt Red by putting him down on an injury.

“Red.” He started, fury lacing his tone. “The only reason I’m not killing him is because I suspect that this is your brother. He’s got two options right now. Jail, or going back into quarantine. I’ll let you choose, but then I’m taking you back to Slim.”

~~

One moment his brother was over top of him, bearing down on him, touching him where he definitely shouldn't. Then the next he was torn away from him, pulling him a little across the floor before his grip was painfully dislodged. The pain of it tore through his arm, thankfully distracting from the scrape of claws across one of his most sensitive areas, forcing a short cry of pain.

His injured arm was cradled against his chest as he looked up, the room blurred by his tears.

"S-sans?..." He asked in a small voice, confusion thick.

"No! No you can't have him! i won't let you take him from- agh!" Red jerked, eyes shooting to his brother who'd obviously just grabbed at one of the bones caging him. The magic flashed purple, Sans' KR stripping away a portion of his Lv 8 brother’s hp. 

Sans' question barely registered. Red was struggling to pull himself back together enough just to make sense of the situation. He felt the gentle embrace of blue magic around his soul and it made him shiver. He felt far too vulnerable to be having anything gripping at his soul like that.

He tried to sit up, pushing at the floor with his better arm, even as the strained bones complained at him. The gentle grip of blue seemed to help him a bit, supporting him. 

All the while his brother screamed and cursed and demanded to be released. Red looked at him and tried to say something, tried to defend him, tried to do or say /anything/ that would help... But his mind was stuck on those hands, and the way they'd just violated him. 

He felt like he was choking.

~~

Sans sighed as he watched Red try to think. It looked like Red wasn’t coming back to Earth anytime soon, still stuck in the trauma he just went through. His gaze softened as he ignored Edge. “I know of a holding cell that’ll be strong enough to hold a fell monster. I’m going to dump him there then get you to Slim. I’ll be right back.”

Sans gently set Red back down, carefully watching to make sure that he wasn’t aggravating any wounds. He then turned to Edge and surrounded him with magic. With a quick flare of magic, he was staring at Edge through the window of a cage meant to hold even Dust, the worst monster to come out of any Underground. It had no doors, leaving teleportation as the only way in and out.

“I got a bad one for ya!” He shouted out to the guard, a tough lizard from the Swap Underground. “I’ll come do the legal stuff in a minute, gotta make sure the victim gets taken care of. This one’s pretty awful.”

With that Sans ported back to Red so he could get him to Slim. He doubted that Red wanted to be touched, so he just surrounded him with magic much more gently than he did with his brother before blinking them to his living room.

Slim jumped up when he saw the two of them, moving forward so he was right next to Red. He didn’t touch Red yet, figuring he’d let Red choose not to be touched after what he’d gone through. Instead he forced a reassuring purr, hoping to help clear the vacant look in his eyes. He didn’t even notice when Sans vanished again.

~~

It was like his soul was cracking. everything was happening so quickly. How long had he even been home by this point? He heard sans talk about taking his brother to jail. His/brother/. again he tried to say something. Tried to deny that this had even happened. But not a single word formed.

Then the two of them were gone.

For a second, Red just sat there. What had just happened?... The way Edge treated him wasn't supposed to be a big deal. It was just a little pain. It wasn't anything Red couldn't handle...

But he couldn't handle this... Why was this so much worse? It was just pain, right? Just-... Except it wasn't... It was dirty and violating and /wrong/ and he wanted to claw at himself until everything that horrible touch had poisoned was /gone/.

He sat there shaking. He noticed his shorts on the floor a short distance away and reached for them. His fingers curled around the material just as Sans ported back in. Red jerked with a yelp at the sudden appearance, pulling his shorts back to himself to cover his indecency.

In the next moment he was somewhere else. He recognized it as Sans' living room. Then that didn't really matter anymore because there was Slim, soft and sweet and purring at him. His body language was open, offering, and Red all but collapsed upon the waiting comfort.

He dropped his shorts, opting to grasp at the front of Slims sweater instead and hid his face against Slim's chest. 

"I-i'm sorry. I-.." That was all he managed before near violent sobs wracked his small body. Slim had /felt that/. It was the only explanation he could think of for sans suddenly popping up like he did. Slim had felt /that/. It wasn't fair. It wasn't /fair/. Everything was shit now and it wasn't. Fucking. Fair!

~~

Slim carefully bundled Red up in his arms, moving over to the couch. He sat down and held Red close. He couldn’t imagine what Red must be feeling like. His brother did that to him. Left him the sobbing, abused mess that Slim so carefully wrapped himself around.

He carefully looked at the two worst injuries. Both were pretty bad. Slim would have to take care of them soon, especially the break in his leg. It was leaking far too much marrow. Slim carefully stood back up, not letting go of Red. He doubted that he’d let go of Red for any reason except is Red asked him to. No, Slim wouldn’t let go of him, even if he felt bad for the slight jostle of wounds that caused them to flare in pain.

He tried his best to walk without jostling the wounds, even with the searing pain in his leg and in one of the arms holding Red up. He dug into one of his boxes, pulling out his trusty first aid kit. He had to set Red down on the couch so he could start caring for the cracked bones.

The arm wasn’t too bad, seeming to have only gotten worse through accident. Slim was able to change the bandaging fairly quickly, splinting it just in case. The pain mirrored into his own arm made it a bit tricky, but Slim was used to working through pain.

The cracks on his leg were sickening. It looked like someone had tried to snap it in half like a pencil. The tibia was slightly cracked, but the worst of it was the fibula. It was completely disconnected. The bones were grating, causing more tension on the tibia. Slim couldn’t care for this on his own. If he tried to set the bone, the pain could very well cause him to mess up and make it worse.

“Red...” He started, breath hitching. “This is more than I can care for. We gotta get you to a hospital, or even a healer.”

~~

For a short time, he just let his mind blank. He was safe. He was with Slim. It was ok to fall apart because he knew Slim wouldn't judge him. Which was perfect, because he didn't think he could hold himself together right now even if he tried.

By the time he was set down, he'd managed to temper his sobs down to sniffles and hiccups, though he was still shaking pretty bad. He almost clung to slim's sweater, but when his soul mate started looking over his injuries he was reminded that he was naked from the waist down. Face burning with shame, he redirected his good arm to tug his sweater down low enough to cover himself.

He sat patiently through the bandaging, still trying to calm his tears. By the time Slim got around to his leg his guilt had done a nice little lap and come back to the forefront of his mind again.

"Ya sh-shouldn't even a' done th-this much..." He said around his hitching voice. "I know yer h-hurtin..."

He wasn't even sure what to say about the suggestion of a hospital. He'd never liked the place. He'd been there a few times early on, shortly after they'd come to the surface. It was a new luxury he'd never really been afforded before, the chance to get his injuries seen to immediately and with such low cost to himself, thanks to this thing called health insurance. But after a couple visits, the people there had started asking him uncomfortable questions. Questions that could have gotten Edge in trouble. So he'd stopped going...

But now... Edge was already in trouble... Edge was in jail...

"Will-....." He stopped, looked away in shame, reconsidered what he was about to say, then continued. "Will ya go with me?..."

Somehow, Slim was making him feel a little better. It was like he was making himself some sort of buffer against reality. As long as he could focus on Slim, his presence, his voice, the warmth of his touch... Then he didn't have to think too hard about what had just happened. He could continue to block it off. 

~~

“Not going to leave you.” Slim shuddered at the thought of being apart from his soulmate. He still couldn’t get the feeling of that pain out of his mind. Of how the harsh touches to his soulmate nearly forced him to form his own magic even with just the pain alone. Of how violated he felt when he wasn’t even the one... when he wasn’t even the one who was nearly raped by his own brother.

Red had been Slim’s rock just that morning, and now it was Slim’s turn to be the rock. He couldn’t let it get to him.

Slim looked up the nearest hospital that had a monster ward, using the pictures of the place as reference so he could shortcut there. Before he left, he grabbed his blanket and gingerly wrapped it around Red. “I don’t think you should try working pants past the break. This’ll have to do for modesty. Is it alright with you?”

~~  
He felt a bit of tension leave him at the confirmation that Slim wasn't about to leave his side. It made him feel pathetic. Pathetic and needy. He was better than this. He was stronger than this.

He watched as Slim looked up the hospital, his insides lurching as he realized Slim was going to take him right fucking now. His eyes darted to his exposed femurs, his modesty only barely saved by the sweater he was holding over himself, then to his shorts on the floor.

"Uh, S-slim..." But he didn't even have to say anything before Slim seemed to just get it. Instead of helping Red back into his shorts, though, all he got was a blanket.

He dug his claws into his makeshift covering, anxiety pricking at his soul at just the thought of being somewhere public without his goddamn pants on. But Slim was right... Trying to get his shorts back on over his busted leg would probably be painful... And slim was already in enough pain because of red. He wasn't about to get stubborn when Slim asked to avoid experiencing more.

"Y-yeah... S'fine..." He held the blanket in a death grip, unable to meet slim's eyes.

~~

Slim’s soul ached seeing Red so insecure. He remembered all the puns that Red had used to cheer him up, and figured he’d give it a go. As he prepared his magic for the shortcut, he came up with the perfect set of puns. “I’ll have ulna know... While the situation may not be humerus, I won’t tell a fibula- it’s going tibia okay.”

Slim jumped as soon as he said the last word, ending up in front of the hospital with Red in his arms.

~~  
At the first pun, Red jerked. At the second he looked up at Slim. By the third he had a small smile on his face. Just after the fourth they were gone and when they popped into existence again Red was held snug and secure in his soul mate's arms.

"Heh." He turned his face against Slim's chest, focusing on his buffer, on this wonderful skeleton he'd been blessed with as a soul mate. "Y-ya sure 'carpal' a bunch a them outta yer ass when ya wanna, huh? Was w-wonderin if ya had a funny bone."

~~

Slim pressed a kiss to Red’s forehead before struggling past a limp to get into the emergency room. “Just haven’t had much practice.”

There weren’t many people in the emergency room, thankfully. Slim went up to the desk and explained that Red had a broken arm that hadn’t needed set, and a very bad broken leg. The woman at the desk asked if Slim had any injuries himself, having noticed his limp walking in.

“N-no, we’re soulmates.” After that, the both of them were ushered into a room to wait for a doctor. Slim was very hesitant to set Red down, and ended up sitting on the bed with Red still in his lap.

~~

Red kept his face hidden against Slim's chest as his soul mate talked to people. He felt guilty about letting slim walk around, carrying him no less, but he figured it would probably hurt more if Red tried to walk himself. They were taken to a little room and things got quiet for a bit. he decided to let it stay that way. As long as he had Slim there with him, he was able to focus just on him. On the secure arms that held him, The soft material of his sweater. The faint, sweet smell of syrup and that earthy undertone that he hadn't been able to identify but was undeniably pleasant. If he listened intently enough he could even hear the hum of Slim's soul.

It was relaxing. It was nice to be able to stop thinking about things. He didn't want to think about things. he didn't want to think about what had just happened to him not long ago. the look on his brother's face as he'd-...

He forced himself to breathe, to loosen the suddenly tight grip he had on Slim's sweater. Don't think about it. It was so much better when he didn't think about it.

It wasn't long before the door to the room opened and a monster woman came in with a wheelchair. There was a slightly taller monster behind her who also had a chair.

"Hello! You're the mated pair right? with the broken leg? We're here to take you both to the monster ward so you can be taken care of." she wheeled her chair up in front of the bed, locked the wheels, then stepped around to the front of it. "Lets get him sat down first, ok?" She reached for Red and his breathing sped up, his claws digging into Slim's sweater once more.

~~

Slim shot the nurse a look that begged for her to back off. He carefully moved Red himself, placing him on the wheelchair. He kept one of Reds hands in his own as he sat in the other wheelchair. 

He noticed the nurses’ look. They hadn't missed Red's flinch, and one of the two was looking at the blanket. It seemed to click as to what that meant.

Slim really hoped she didn't say anything. He didn’t want to think about it, much less talk about it. Red likely felt the same.

~~

Red had to force his fingers to let go when Slim moved to put him in the wheelchair. He didn't want to be set down... He didn't want to leave Slim's arms! He realized how unrealistic that was though. Slim's arm was hurting, Red knew. It was probably uncomfortable to be holding Red at the same time... at least he was still allowed to cling to his soul mate's hand. He wasn't sure how he would handle that if that was taken away as well.

Red kept quiet on the way through the hospital, unwilling to do much talking with an audience. the trip took them through several halls and doors, taking a brief ride on the elevator along the way. Then they were brought to a little room. It had a few tools that gave off a subtle magic pulse. 

Red was wheeled up to the bed and the nurse started towards Red again (his grip on Slim's hand tightened) before thinking better of it. She turned to Slim.

"Would you like to help him to the bed?"

~~

Slim shot the nurse a grateful look. It was a bit painful for him to move Red, but much more comfortable for the both of them. He had to fight the urge to sit with Red in his lap again, instead sitting close enough to keep holding hands. He hated doctors.

He hated that Red needed a doctor.


	6. Chapter 6

 

Red relaxed a little when the nurse backed off. He didn't want anyone else touching him... It wasn't so bad if it was Slim. He knew, even on an instinctual level, that Slim wouldn't hurt him. But anyone else? Just the thought made his panic flare...

 

Once they were situated, the nurse excused herself and her assistant. Slim and red were left alone once more, waiting for the doctor to arrive.

 

"...Sorry..." he muttered after a moment. It was probably painful to be moving Red around like that. He should have just let the nurse do her job...

 

~~

 

“It’s alright. After...  _ that, _ I’m not surprised that you don’t want to be touched. I’ll be right here for you.” Slim ran his thumb along the back of Red’s hand as he spoke. He started purring, hoping to soothe his soulmate.

 

The wait for a doctor felt like eons had passed. Slim had to push down his building frustration. He could  _ feel _ just how bad Red’s leg was. The longer they sat there, the worse the pain seemed to feel. 

 

And that wasn’t even mentioning the marrow still leaking from the wound. The blanket was completely ruined by this point. With his one hp, Slim was worried that Red wouldn’t last long enough for the doctor to finally get there.

 

There were a couple sharp knocks before a kind looking goat monster entered the room. Slim’s temper dulled a little when he saw how exhausted he looked. Since monsters couldn’t receive treatment like humans due to lacking all the physical mass, healers had to use their magic to treat monsters. While there were exclusively monster clinics, insurance didn’t cover trips to such places. Insurance agencies like the ones monsters were strong-armed into claimed that monsters in clinics didn’t have the proper training to treat others. At hospitals, however, only those who had gone to a nursing program at least were accepted. However, since it had only been six and a half years since the first barrier had been broken, not many monsters had gone through the full schooling.

 

Monsters in hospitals were spread thin, needing to heal all the badly hurt or sick monsters who couldn’t afford the clinics.

 

“Howdy. I’m doctor Hooppe. You two are here for a broken leg, am I right?”

 

~~

 

Red's grip tightened on Slim's. He was so thankful for his soul mate. So damn thankful. Tears stung his sockets as he let Slim's comforting presence sooth him.

 

Stars. What did he ever do to deserve this guy?

 

He let the silence drag as they waited, just holding onto Slim's hand and feeling his thumb move over Red's carpals.

 

The knock on the door made him jump, his eyes darting over to the door. They'd come to the examination part of this visit. His eye lights narrowed to little dots at the thought of this guy touching him. he barely managed a small nod in response to his question.

 

~~

 

“Alright, can I get a better look at the break?” The doctor kept his voice low as he sat on a stool and moved next to Red. He tried to stay as unassuming as he could. One of the nurses had told him about Red being shy to touch. Seeing the blanket, he came to the same conclusion she had- there was likely sexual assault at least attempted.

 

~~

 

Red's hand shook as it reached for the blanket, pulling it up just high enough to see the mess his leg had become. Seeing it made him feel a little sick, so he looked away. It had been a while since Edge had hurt him quite that bad. he usually didn't break anything to the point of bleeding. It was... A really fucking bad break...

 

~~

 

Slim moved to stand next to Red, giving him a gentle hug. He hated to see his soulmate like this. If it meant that Red was soothed, it was worth the pain to stand.

 

Dr. Hoppee had to hide a grimace as he saw the break. He’d treated a few other skeletons before, and every time he saw one of the worse breaks it unsettled him. “Alright. We’ll probably have to put you under so we can set this. We could do it with you awake, but it would be very painful.”

 

The doctor noticed that Slim had gotten up, and gave a small frown. “There’s plenty of space on the bed for both of you, sir. Just because it’s not you with the wound doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. Please sit.”

 

Slim sheepishly moved to sit next to Red.

 

~~

 

Slim came closer and wrapped his arms around him. red knew he should feel bad about Slim moving around for him while he was in pain, but he could only find it in him to feel thankful when he could hide his face against the other's shoulder.

 

He felt a little more calm after that, especially when Slim sat on the bed next to him. he took a breath and shakily spoke. "Y-you'll make it so he doesn't f-feel it either... R-right?..."

 

~~

 

“Of course. We’ve got two ways it can be done. We can either put both of you under, or we can use a drug that will dull the bond for a day or two. It’s up to you two.” The doctor’s words shot a small lance of panic into Slim. 

 

“You can just put me under with him.” His response was near immediate. He didn’t want to lose the bond, even for just a short time.

 

~~

 

Red pressed a little more against Slim. "Th-then it's fine... Do what ya gotta...."

 

He didn't much like the idea of being helplessly unconscious, but if it would lessen the pain, make it so Slim didn't hurt, then it was worth it. And though he would have preferred Slim accept the dulled bond option, he could understand why he didn't. Red probably wouldn't have either, if their roles were reversed...

 

~~

 

“All right. I’ll get the anesthetic, you two just lay back. I’ll be right back.” The doctor left the room quickly, wanting to get started on that wound right away.

 

Slim laid back on the bed, trying his best to help Red do the same. He kept his grip still firm on Red’s hand even as he did so.

 

~~

 

Red was starting to feel really bad about the grip he had on Slim's hand. He was squeezing so tightly he was actually starting to feel it in his other hand. A reflection of Slim's pain from the hold. He couldn't ease it though, not as he laid on his back, pelvis still bare beneath the blanket and the prospect of unconsciousness looming ahead of him.

 

"Th-this fuckin sucks..." he breathed, a nervous chuckle leaking into the words.

 

~~

 

“You’re telling me. It’ll be alright though. I’m right here next to you. Now that I’ve found you, I’m not letting go. Not ever.” Slim punctuated his words with a squeeze that made his other hand ache with Red’s pain. It was grounding, hopefully reminding both of them that they were safe.

 

A knock on the door announced the doctor’s return to the room. He had a couple sheets of paper in one hand, and a canister of gas with masks in the other. He set the canister down for a moment before turning to the skeletons. “Alright, we’re going to use a gas for this since you’re skeletons. Before I put you under, I need the two of you to sign these to show that you consent to the treatment.”

 

Dr. Hoppee pointed out what each part of the papers was saying, before prompting the two to sign. Slim did it without hesitation, wanting to get this over with. Thankfully he was holding Red’s right hand, so his own was open to sign without releasing his vice grip.

 

~~

 

Being left handed, Red was also able to sign without letting go. He wondered if that was another favor from the universe... The signature was still shaky, but legible.

 

He turned his head a little as the mask was moved over his face, keeping his gaze on Slim. Slim was here. He wasn't going anywhere. Not ever... It was a difficult thing to grasp, but just trying made him feel lighter. 

 

As he started to drift off, Slim's face and gentle expression chased him into the darkness, making sure he wasn't going to be there alone...

 

~~

 

Slim kept his gaze locked with Red’s as he started to fall asleep. His grip on Red’s hand only loosened when he drifted off.

 

The doctor couldn’t hold a small smile back as he watched the two fall asleep. They were obviously very close, even for soulmates. He only hoped that he’d form such a bond with his own soulmate, when he found them.

 

He set the wound carefully, before pushing healing magic to connect the two parts of the bone. He couldn’t do too much, since he’d need his magic for other patients. However, if he did use a little more than he should- well, it seemed like the skeletons both had been through an awful lot. Likely both Fell monsters, judging by the sheer number of scars.

 

It wasn’t long before he had the wound wrapped in a simple cast. He pulled the masks off both skeletons. He’d try to have one of the nurses there when they would be closer to waking.

 

~~

 

It was some time later when Red was aware again. His mind felt a little fuzzy, a leftover effect from the anesthesia. His eye lights rolled to his left, and he saw a curtain. Looked like all of his walls were curtains actually... Unless the one behind him wasn't? He couldn't quite see that one... he felt a little loopy... The world feeling a little far away...

 

As he looked to his right, skull lazily rolling in that direction, he saw Slim. A smile tugged at his teeth. Slim was still there. Just like he promised. Man, Slim was great. suddenly, nothing else matter but Slim and the fact that he was there. Still. After all the shit Red had put him through. 

 

He reached and brushed his knuckles over a sharp cheekbone. Red was so lucky. Tears stung at the corners of his sockets.

 

~~

 

The first thing Slim did when he realized he was awake was look for Red. At first all he found was curtain. He was just starting to panic when there was a touch to his cheek. He followed the touch to find Red. He gave a big dopey grin to his soulmate, reaching up to snag Red’s hand.

 

“This is mine now.” He commented simply, pulling the hand to his chest like some stuffed animal.

 

~~

 

Red snickered, finding the move absolutely hilarious. "Oh yeah? n'what if I need it fer somethin?"

 

He didn't try to pull his hand back, though, content to let it stay near where he could feel Slim's soul humming just under his sternum.

 

~~

 

“I’ll just let you use my hand. But this one is staying with me.” Slim smiled wider, glad that Red hand’t pulled his hand back. He looked over his soulmate, noticing the cast on Red’s leg. “Look! The bubble wrapped your leg!”

 

~~

 

Red's snicker turned into a giggle as he tried to scoot a little closer. His body felt a little have though, his limbs moving sluggishly. He felt like he should be concerned about that, but he really wasn't. All he was concerned with was Slim and his pretty smile.

 

"Sounds fair." he didn't think anything could penetrate the little bubble of happiness he was in.

 

But then Slim pointed out his leg. And a memory came back as to why his leg would be 'bubble wrapped'. And suddenly he wasn't smiling anymore.

 

"Oh... Y-yeah... Yep. They uh... They sure did..." His brother... His brother was in jail... Because he had broken Red's leg... And had tried to-...

 

Suddenly there were tears in his sockets and he looked back up at Slim, feeling lost now that he remembered why he was here. he opened his mouth to say something, to ask for Slim to hold him, to apologize, to ask if Slim was ok... but all that came out was a little sob, soft and miserable and choked.

 

~~

 

The second he heard that little sob, Slim pulled Red into a tight hug. He moved so Red was on his chest using what little strength he could muster. He then used his secret weapon- his purr. He made it as loud as possible, trying to get his chest to rumble under Red.

 

He didn’t say anything, instead just pressing light kisses to the top of Red’s skull.

 

~~

 

He pressed his face to Slim's shirt, his fingers weakly trying to grip the fabric. His tears soaked the material under his face as weak little sobs made his breath hitch. 

 

"I-I don't-.. h-he-... Wh-why wo-ould he-... He's my... /b-brother/.... he..." he tried to block it out of his mind like he did before, but now, with his thoughts feeling so fuzzy and unfocused, it seemed to be the only thing he could think about. the way he'd felt when he was pinned to the floor. How sick he'd gotten when Edge's pelvis had pushed against his. How completely /helpless/ he'd been as his brother's sharp fingers rubbed against him...

 

He felt Slim's purr vibrating against him. he tried to focus on that. It did remind him that he wasn't alone. he had his soul mate here, willing to hold and support him, wrap him in those long arms and shield him from a world in which his own brother could do something like that to him.

 

It helped a bit, but it didn't make his shame and pain completely go away. he desperately wished it could.

 

He didn't quite hear the steps behind him, or notice when a nurse poked her head in around the curtain. she'd heard sounds and assumed the patients were awake. She hadn't expected the sight she found. Her eyes a little wide, she backed out again and decided she should probably go tell the doctor.

 

As well as the royal guard member who'd been waiting to take the smaller skeleton's statement...

 

~~

 

Slim’s soul ached for Red. To have his own brother do...  _ that _ . It wasn’t something he could even fathom. He ran a hand over Red’s skull soothingly. “That’s it, just let it all out. It’s alright to cry.”

 

He was too focused on his soulmate to notice the nurse. He hated to see Red cry, but knew from personal experience that if you left the ache too long, it just got worse until you could no longer hold it back or grew numb trying.

 

Corny as it was, Slim knew he already loved his soulmate with all his soul. He’d do anything for Red.

 

He noticed when the doctor came, and gave him a pleading look. Unfortunately, the doctor didn’t seem to understand the meaning of his look, coming closer instead of giving them the time Red needed. “Glad to see you two awake. How are you feeling?”

 

~~

 

"F-fuck off is how'm f-feelin!" Red half growled half cried, bristling at just the mere presence of another person. He clung a little tighter to Slim.

 

~~

 

Slim shot the doctor a short glare for his awful tact. Who asks someone who’s literally  _ in tears _ how they’re feeling? “As you can probably tell, we are doing poorly mentally.  _ Please, _ try to read the mood before asking such questions.”

 

The doctor gave an embarrassed grimace. “I apologise. We have a member of the royal guard who would like to take your statement about the situation. When you are ready to speak, please just hit the call button that’s right there. I’ll leave you two for now.”

 

He practically fled the room, uncomfortable with the anger leveled at him from two powerful monsters.

 

~~

 

"Ya can t-tell him ta fuck off t-too!" Red shouted after the retreating doctor. Who the hell did he think he was?! Coming in here and trying to talk to him! He didn't want to fucking talk to anybody! Ever!

 

Except Slim...

 

"Th-they can all just... F-fuck off..." He whined, falling back against Slim's chest. 

 

~~

 

“I don’t think he knows what the word tact means.” Slim responded in a deadpan tone. “Absolutely clueless. For someone bright enough to get through the doctor program, he’s really not the brightest bulb.”

 

Slim tried to bring a little humor to his soulmate. If it meant making a little bit of fun of the guy who upset Red- well, not much of a loss there.

 

~~

 

Even as Red sniffled, a little smile spread on his face. "R-really don't... 'Goat' any sense... heh.." His voice was still thick and heavy with tears, but he latched onto this distraction from his thoughts with both hands and clung.

 

~~

 

Slim gave a couple chuckles. “You’re really good at coming up with puns.”

 

Slim nuzzled his cheek on the top of Red’s skull, almost catlike with his purr still running.

 

~~

 

"Heh. It's in my /bones/." He sniffled a little more, reaching up to wipe the tears from his face. 

 

~~

 

Slim sat there for a while, soothing Red and telling jokes. When he felt Red had calmed enough, he felt he had to brake the mood, lothe as he was to do so. “Would you like me to talk to the guard? I’m sure that if I let them know that Sans is caring for it, then you could at least wait a while before having to talk about it.”

 

~~

 

"I-..." He faltered. He knew he should deal with it. It was his problem and he'd been avoiding it since it happened. It wasn't right of him to be letting other people shoulder this burden for him. It was bad enough that Slim had shared his pain in the first place... But then Sans had come busting in like a white night to save him. And Afterwards Slim had been there to do his best and pick up the pieces. Red wasn't being fair to them...

 

But he'd never claimed to be an especially good person... And Slim seemed so eager to help him out... He shouldn't take advantage of it. He really shouldn't... 

 

But something told him Slim didn't see it that way.

 

"I-i'd rather not deal with 'em... I-if yer sure ya don't mind..." He felt like a piece of shit for accepting, but he couldn't deny that a weight seemed to lift from him at the admission.

 

~~

 

“Alright. I’ll go talk to them for you.” Slim pressed another kiss to the top of Red’s skull, before gently moving Red over so he could get up. He pressed the call button before going to wait right outside the room. 

 

He didn’t want the guard to be able to upset Red, not when he’d actually admitted to needing the help. If the guard had to talk with Red, so be it, but Slim would prefer if it was left to Sans.

 

As much as Sans put himself down, he really was a great monster. Slim had been shocked when he learned that Sans, the kind monster who had taken him in, was actually  _ The _ Judge. The monster out of all the undergrounds with the strongest power. 

 

Every monster from the third Underground to surface and after had to be approved by the judge after the incident that left five humans dead at the hands of a monster. It had nearly resulted in another human-monster war, and left even monsters suspicious of other monsters.

 

It was eventually decided that even before the humans approved a monster to move up to the surface, The Judge would do a through CHECK on each and every monster. Due to the special spell that place the power of Judgment on the strongest monster, that monster would be able to see any corruption over a monster’s soul. If a monster lost over half of their LHC, or love, hope, and compassion, they would not be allowed to leave to the surface right away. 

 

There were groups of healers and psychiatrists  who would try to help repair the souls of such monsters. It often failed, but there were enough monsters allowed to surface that they continued to help.

 

There were stories told of one monster, however, who had killed every single other monster in his Underground, even his own brother. He claimed that the monsters were happier to have died by his hand then by that of a human. The complete lack of LHC in his soul meant that he should have fallen down. He had tried to fight The Judge, and had been killed. Monsters with LHC below the previously believed threshold for falling by corruption were placed in that Underground, where many monsters and a few human mages had worked together to place a new barrier.

 

When a barrier was broken, The Judge would be there. Very few monsters ever realized that among those there for each shattering, Sans was the one who held control over their fate. Slim certainly hadn’t.

 

Slim had felt bad for his hate of The Judge when he finally learned who it was. It was much easier to hate the faceless monster who had kept his brother from reaching the surface for nearly six months. Now he knew Sans didn’t actually have a ton of part time jobs, but instead was constantly going from Underground to Underground, trying to find any monsters who had actually gotten their LHC up enough that he could let them feel the sun.

 

Slim was broken out of his thoughts by footsteps. Thankfully it seemed like just the Guard had come over. All members of the royal guard knew who Sans was, but it was mostly kept quiet so people didn’t try to hurt Sans, monster or human.


	7. Chapter 7

 

Doggo sat nursing a cup of coffee. He practically lived on the stuff these days. There were times when he almost wished they'd stayed underground. Things were simpler there... The biggest infraction he'd ever had to deal with was overly antagonistic teens hanging doodads off the giftrot. But now?...

 

He'd had it good. He'd had it too damn good. Humans came in all types, he'd found. And though he'd thought monsters were of a better sort than that, he'd quickly been proven wrong when they'd discovered other undergrounds. The first time he'd seen monsters from one of those dark undergrounds... Fuck... He'd nearly pissed himself...

 

He thought he'd left puppyhood behind him, but he'd damn well done some growing that day.

 

Today he'd been called in on a more sensitive case. The doctor had suspected some form of sexual assault. There had been some pretty bad regular assault thrown in there too. Doctors were supposed to report these kinds of things, even if it was just a suspicion. The fact that the victim was a monster... Well, he wished he could say that was unusual...

 

He'd gotten here not long ago. As far as he knew, the victim and his soulmate were in recovery, slated to wake up at any moment. Stars, what he wouldn't give for a dog treat right now... The smoke would be no good for the sensitive instruments found in a hospital though, he'd been told. He sighed, chugging the rest of his coffee.

 

It was a short time later that a nurse came to let him know the victim's soul mate would speak with him. He frowned. That wasn't exactly what he'd been sent here for... Welp... Better go talk to the guy...

 

He navigated the halls fairly easily, having been here several times before. Sometimes for more tame things. Sometimes for worse... Though sexual assault wasn't something he'd ever consider to be tame. He came up the hall to find a tall skeleton monster. He almost could have mistaken the guy for papyrus until he moved and Doggo got a better look at him.

 

Cracks. Sharp teeth. Dark clothes. Definitely from one of the darker undergrounds... He squared his shoulders.

 

"I'm Doggo. I'm here about the uh... The sexual assault report. You're the victim's soul mate? Care to tell me why I can't talk to the victim directly?" He tried not to come off as too firm or standoffish, but he really didn't like dealing with fell types...

 

~~

 

“I was at home with a friend when it started. Red-my soulmate- has been beaten pretty bad over the years, but this one was worse than usual. He- well, considering that it was his little brother, he stuck with the guy even after we hit the surface. But I think this last time... I guess his brother loved him in a more than brotherly way, had a lovely way of showing it. Red and I only actually met each other for the first time a couple of days ago, and that was the first time his brother tried...  _ that _ .” Slim’s recount of the situation was hardly better than rambling, speech hardly composed to the standard Black had beaten into him.

 

He just wanted to get this over with. Saying it out loud made it seem that much more real.

 

“A-anyways, Red is pretty beat up about it. And Sans was with me when- uh, the incident” Slim spat out the word incident, not wanting to call it anything else. “happened. When I felt the pain, uh, down there, he went to take care of it. I know Red’ll have to talk with people about it at some point, but... do you have enough info from that? Please, he’s already really upset that his brother is in jail or where-ever Sans took him.”

 

~~

 

Doggo's ears fell back as what amounted to word vomit was hurled at him. It was a good thing skeletons didn't have tongues because otherwise he was sure this guy would have bitten it.

 

"Uh..." Fumbling a little, he dug a little notepad from his pocket. "You say Sans was with you?" Out of all of the absolutely horrible details that had been thrown at him, he decided to latch onto that one. Sans was probably the most reliable witness anyone could have offered him. If the /judge/ was involved, then he was sure everything would be sorted as it should.

 

"Let me just get your contact information then I'll follow up with him. I shouldn't have to bother you or your mate further at this time." Nor did he really want to. If this 'Red' person's own brother had done those things, it was likely he was a fell type as well. It was just one big heart rending mess and Doggo would rather not dirty his paws in it more than he had to.

 

Not to mention how out of sorts this poor skeleton seemed to be. If this was the state of the mate, he'd hate to see how the actual victim was fairing... No need to step on already bruised toes.

 

~~

 

“Thank you, sir.” Slim gave Doggo his phone number and current address. Then with a nod of his head to the dog, he padded his way back into the recovery room. He hated having been away from Red for even that short amount of time. Perhaps he was being clingy, but so long as Red allowed it Slim would be by his side.

 

Slim only allowed himself to relax when he was laying back down with his soulmate. “You won’t have to talk with them yet, dear. I was able to give them enough information for now.”

 

~~

 

Red hadn't wanted to let go when Slim got up to leave. He knew he had to. Slim was just doing what Red had asked of him after all... But he didn't like it...

 

The time he spent on his own was... Cold... And a little painful... Without Slim there to ground him, his mind kept wandering. It wandered to his brother. To his past... It wandered to Slim...

 

By the time his soulmate came back, Red was eager to be back in his arms. he made that rather apparent too, since as soon as Slim was settled, Red levered himself up so he could flop over on the other skeleton's chest.

 

"Good." he hummed, getting himself comfortable. "Thanks.."

 

~~

 

Slim wrapped his arms around Red, holding him close on his chest. He made his chest rumble with a purr again, since it had seemed to help earlier. As much as Slim knew he couldn’t talk to the guard where Red could have heard, he still felt a little bad for having left the room for even that short period of time.

 

“You’re worth the effort. We may not know each other all that well yet, but I know that much already.” Slim punctuated his words with a soft kiss to the top of Red’s skull.

 

~~

 

It felt like his soul stuttered. He turned his face against Slim's chest when he felt the shameful sting of tears again, hoping to will them away. Red really didn't think he was worth /anything/. Just hearing that Slim thought he was worth something was enough to send his already unstable emotions just a little more off kilter.

 

"I..." He swallowed, voice feeling thick. "I think the world a' you too. Just... Just so ya know... heh..." A smile was spreading on his face, in spite of himself. Somehow, Slim knew just what to say to make him feel better. Knew just what to do, too, as those arms encased and protected him, that purr rumbling gently against him. For just that moment, it felt like everything really was going to be ok.

 

~~

 

Slim wasn’t sure how long the two of them were like that, but it didn’t feel like long enough. A nurse came into the room, letting the two know that they were good to be discharged now. She insisted that they both be wheeled around until they were out of the hospital, so they were carted around from place to place to fill out paperwork and set up an appointment for Red. 

 

They gave Red some crutches and Slim a special brace that was meant to help keep the pain down for both of them. After that they just had a short meeting with the doctor so he could approve them to be discharged.

 

“Alright, you two should be good to go. Since you were under anesthesia I’d ask that you not drive or use a large amount of magic, such as the teleporting or soul magic.” Dr. Hoppee told them as he signed the last few spots needed to finish discharging the two. Slim tried to figure out who he should call to pick them up. Sans was probably busy, and Papyrus would likely freak out when he learned that Slim and Red had ended up in the hospital. Not to mention Papyrus was having one of his sleep-overs with Undyne. Maybe Stretch? It’d at least be worth a shot, and now that Slim was no longer living with Black, he wouldn’t have to worry about him trying to force Slim to report the abuse he had been under.

 

He pulled out his phone-which thankfully still had a decent charge, and called Stretch up. While a little concerned that he was at the hospital at all, thankfully he said he’d be able to pick them up. They’d just have to wait for him to get there.

 

~~

 

Stretch sighed, letting his phone fall to his mattress and reaching up to rub at his sockets tiredly. He’d only just gotten to sleep… Slim was his friend, though, and he’d made sure to let the guy know he was always welcome to call if he needed help. He couldn’t exactly retract that offer just because the call came at 1am.

 

He sighed again and sat up, throwing off his blankets and reaching for the oversized orange sweatshirt on the floor. He found and toed on his shoes as well then just went ahead and ported out. Blue was still sleeping, so there was no sense in letting his brother know he was going out. He’d be back soon anyway… Hopefully…

 

He popped up in front of the hospital. Once he walked inside he was able to find Slim fairly easily, waiting in a wheelchair in the lobby. 

 

Next to another monster…

 

Slim had mentioned he was here with his soul mate. So.. That was him? The little guy looked a little rough. And when he caught Stretch eyeing him he gave a little growl, glaring daggers. 

 

Stretch sighed. Again. Then walked over to them.

 

“Hey Slim. Heard you needed a lift?”

 

~~

 

Slim shot Stretch a strained smile. It looked like he had been woken up by Slim’s call. “Yeah. Sorry ‘bout waking you up. Sans is busy.”

 

Slim was exhausted. It had been a long day, and he wanted nothing more than to curl up on the couch for a good long sleep. Not to mention he could tell that Red had already had more than enough dealing with people for one day.

 

~~

 

Stretch shot Slim a tired smile. “Don’t even worry bout it. I told you that you could call any time and I meant it. So. Am I just taking you home? Or…” He trailed off, glancing over the smaller skeleton.

 

Red faltered. He hadn’t exactly thought about where he would be going after this. He’d kind of just assumed he’d be staying with Slim. That, however, would imply he’d be going to Sans’ house, where Slim was already crashing on their couch. They didn’t exactly need another freeloader. And it wasn’t as if Red’s place wasn’t habitable… Edge wasn’t even there now. It’d be fine if he went home… Right?... Somehow, the thought had him feeling cold.

 

“Uh…” He tightened his hand on Slim’s, where he hadn’t managed to make himself let go. He hadn’t even handled it very well when Slim just went to talk to the guard… And he didn’t want to just uproot the guy and have him come to Red’s house… Where he’d have to walk through that livingroom… Where Edge had-...

 

He looked to Slim, eyes begging a question he wasn’t even entirely sure he knew how to ask. 

 

~~

 

Slim froze at Stretch’s question. He hadn’t thought of where Red would be staying. He didn’t want to be apart from Red, and he didn’t want Red to have to stay at his own house if it made him uncomfortable. Would it be too awkward to share the pull-out bed? “Would you like to stay with me, Red? The couch is one of those that can turn into a bed.”

 

~~

 

Red’s face dusted with color at the thought of actually sharing a bed with Slim. “Uhh… I-if ya don’t mind?”

 

Stretch raised a brow at Slim, leaving the final decision up to him. 

 

~~

 

“I- uh, don’t want to be far from you right now.” Slim looked away, a small blush heating his cheeks. He didn’t mention that he didn’t want Red to have to go home alone, where memories would probably just upset him. “So yeah, Sans’ place please.”

 

~~

 

Red relaxed a little and Stretch gave an easy nod. He waited for both monsters to stand before projecting his magic for a shortcut. He figured it would probably be in his own best interest not to touch the shorter skeleton…

 

They all popped into Sans’ living room, which was dark, save for the light coming in through the front window from a streetlight. “So, if that’s all you needed?” Stretch asked, fighting back a yawn.

 

~~

 

“Yeah, that’s good. Thanks for the help.” Slim waited until Stretch had ported away before unfolding the couch into his bed. He had to make a quick trip to the closet to grab a new blanket since the one he was using was ruined. After he was done with that, however, he was more than ready to sleep. 

 

He moved to help Red get down, gently setting the crutches the hospital had given them down to the side.

 

~~

 

Red shifted a little, from foot to crutch and back, feeling a tad useless as Slim went about making their bed. He would have offered to help, but he wasn’t sure he could do much even if he wanted to. Slim was moving a bit too quickly anyway… Fetching a blanket and laying it out on the bed he’d just pulled out.

 

Then it was time to lay down and Red’s face warmed. He was about to share a bed with Slim… Sure, they’d sort of done that at the hospital too, but that was a little different. Strangely though, even after what Red had gone through at the hands of his brother, he wasn’t at all afraid of sharing that intimate space with Slim. He knew he could trust Slim not to cross those boundaries with him.

 

The problem was… That Red was thinking about those boundaries anyway and sort of wishing they weren’t there…

 

Slim was beautiful. Tall and elegant. But it was paired with a timid kindness that made Red feel safe and… Loved… It made him want to be closer to his soulmate. It made him want things that should scare him after what had happened just a few hours ago. 

 

He trusted Slim… But he didn’t entirely trust himself…

 

They both laid down and Red tucked himself under the blanket, rolling on his side to face the other skeleton. His face was still dimly lighting the area around it as he started to pick at the threads of the sheet underneath him.

 

“S-so… uhh… H-how ya wanna-...?” Should he stay on his side of the bed? Would Slim be ok with Red laying closer?  _ Should _ Red lay closer?

 

~~

 

Slim gave a soft chuckle at Red’s sudden shyness. He gently moved Red onto his chest, making sure that if Red wasn’t okay with it he could move out of Slim’s hold easily. “Same way as before, dear.”

 

Slim tried to show with all but words his love for his soulmate. It was probably too soon to actually say the words, so Slim resolved that he’d just have to show Red however possible.

 

~~

 

Slim pulled Red into his arms and he all but melted into the embrace, breathing out a happy little sigh. He’d just been fretting over nothing. This wasn’t new after earlier. It was just as comforting as before. Just as comfortable. It didn’t feel dirty or stressful in the least. Not that Red didn’t still think Slim was damn attractive, he definitely would still like to do less than innocent things with him. But this here?... It was good. Just comfort and affection and closeness. In a way Red hadn’t even known was possible.

 

Slim really was the best.

 

With a soft smile he nuzzled his face against the other’s chest. “Have I told ya t’day how awesome ya are? Cause yer fuckin great.”

 

~~

 

Slim’s jaw stretched with a yawn. He nuzzled into Red’s skull sleepily. He could feel his chest rumbling under Red with his purr. Knowing that not only was he safe, but so was his soulmate was more than he could have hoped for.

 

Things would be rough, Slim knew that. Red’s brother was in a lot of trouble, and they’d have to deal with the legal side of being an abuse victim. Slim himself would probably be trying to contact his brother in some way or another.

 

However, those were tomorrow’s problems. 

 

His soulmate was there with him, and that’s all that Slim could ask for. “You are just as great. I’m happy to be here with you.”

 

~~

 

Red drifted off to sleep fairly easily after that, lulled by Slim’s soothing presence. It wasn’t anything like the dull, ratty mattress he had at home, with its thin scratchy blankets. Here, he was warm. He felt safe and protected. He felt… Loved… As foreign as that was… and that feeling followed him into his sleep.

 

His dreams that night were vague. And he kept waking up. But each time, he would smell syrup and something earthy. He’d feel arms around him that sheltered rather than trapped. And he’d drift back off without much trouble.

 

The final time he woke, he could see light filtering in through the window, dim but very much there. Slim was still sleeping, arms still holding Red close, even in rest. Red couldn’t help but smile at him. He didn’t think he’d be able to get back to sleep, but he also didn’t think he wanted to get up yet. So he settled in to have a lazy morning, head pillowed against the chest of his soul mate.

 

~~

 

Sans stumbled downstairs, the bags under his eyes deep. He’d gotten home late the night before, only to be plagued by nightmares.

 

When he noticed Red laying on top of Slim, he pushed a small bit of guilt down. Slim had probably had to take Red to the hospital by himself. The cast on his leg and brace on his arm testified to that.

 

If only Sans hadn’t decided to turn a blind eye to the abuse. Yeah, Red would have been upset at him for reporting Edge, but...

 

An angry Red would have been a far better sight than the one Sans was met with today.

 

Sans slumped, exhaustion taking its toll. He trudged to the kitchen to get a pot of coffee started. Stars only know he’d need it for the long few days ahead of him.

 

Slim stirred slightly at the noise, but settled soon after.

 

~~

 

Hearing someone approach, Red closed his eyes and turned his face further against Slim's chest, pretending to still be asleep. The footsteps paused in the living room, then carried on to the kitchen. Given the shuffling, lazy gait, it could only be one person.... 

 

Sans...

 

Red suppressed a sigh. The passing of the night had provided a bit of a mental buffer between him and what happened just yesterday. It felt a little further away. A little removed. But he knew it had still happened. He could feel the ragged edges of his memories lingering at the back of his mind, just waiting to tear into him again if he bothered to stir them up. He didn't want to think about it.

 

But Sans had been there. Sans had... He'd stepped in and stopped something terrible from happening. A part of Red wanted to resent Sans for breaking his word. For interfering when just that day he'd said he wouldn't. That he'd leave things up to Red's judgement... But another part of him was overwhelmingly grateful.

 

Red could handle physical abuse. He wasn't so sure he could have handled... What was about to happen...

 

He heard the clink of a coffee pot, the rush of water, the gentle thump of cabinet doors. Then, the gentle bubble of percolating coffee. The scent of it wafted into the room as Red lay there, his warm, gentle morning made a little colder by his train of thought. This time he didn't try to suppress his sigh.

 

He should go talk to Sans. He needed to put his damn big boy pants back on and start dealing with this mess.

 

Sitting up and pulling away from Slim was easy in the physical sense. Those long arms of his were loose and didn't try to trap him in place. They'd simply been sheltering him. Red smiled down at his sleeping mate, the longing to go back to him already setting into his very bones. 

 

He rearranged the blankets to sit snugly around Slim, then reached for his crutches before pulling himself to his feet and hobbling slowly towards the kitchen on his one good leg. Moving around like this was going to get real annoying real fast, he decided...

 

He found sans in the kitchen, as he'd suspected, looking about as tired as Red now felt. He tried to force at least a small smile for pleasantry's sake.

 

"Hey." he greeted.

 

~~

 

Sans jumped when Red spoke. “Oh, hey Red. How’re you feeling now? Sorry that I left you ‘n Slim to get to the hospital yourself.”

 

Slim shifted some when Red got up, but didn’t fully wake up.

 

~~

 

Red shrugged a little, not meeting Sans’ eyes. “Don’t worry bout it. Ya had some shit on yer own plate ta deal with.”

 

Sans had taken the Boss to jail. His little brother. He didn’t want to think about where Edge was staying right now. He wondered if he’d even gotten any sleep. Did he feel bad at all for what he’d done? Would that make it any better?...

 

“So uh… I guess I should probably thank ya n’ junk…” He frowned a little, the words not tasting right in his mouth. He was grateful! He was! But… “So yeah. Thanks…”

 

~~

 

Sans sighed at Red’s tone. Right. The guy who spent a good portion of the night cursing Sans out was Red’s little brother.

 

“You don’t have to thank me. Not if you don’t mean it yet. If you’re angry with me, that’s alright.”

 

Red had just been through a lot. Had to deal with the mental fallout while healing. And if being upset with Sans would keep him from being upset with himself, then he’d take the heat.

 

~~

 

Red sighed, reaching to rub a hand over his tired face. “I ain’t mad at ya… It’s… It’s a fuckin shitty situation, a’right? I-... I don’t think I coulda-... So yeah. M’grateful, ok? But I just… Hate that I got a reason ta be.”

 

He looked up at Sans, taking in the tired posture and the bags under his eyes. The guy hadn’t slept well that night, that was pretty obvious. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. A part of him wanted to feel guilty, but that was a little buried by all of the rest of him that just didn’t want to think about it.

 

He looked away again and the next words that came out of his mouth did so without much of a conscious decision from him. “S-so how’s he doin? My bro, that is…”

 

~~

 

“We’re keeping him in a holding cell for now, but our jails are better than most human ones. As long as he doesn’t destroy stuff, it’ll be fairly comfortable. Ya should be able to visit soon if you want.” Sans almost wished that the cells weren’t quite as accommodating. However, in cases like this, it at least could give some piece of mind.

 

Sans considered telling Red that they were waiting for him to let them know where they should put Fell long-term. However, he figured it could wait at least until Red was either willing to visit him or was in a better state of mind.

 

~~

 

Well. At least while his little brother was  _ locked up _ he would be  _ comfortable _ . Red tried to banish the bitter little thought, but it dug itself nice and deep and made itself at home. He sighed again, slumping a little against his crutches. It really was a shitty situation.

 

“Thanks. I uh… I might do that.” The coffee pot chose that moment to finish up it’s little percolating process, the gurgle of boiling liquid and steam letting them know all of the water had made its trip into the pot. Red eyed said pot.

 

“Ya got enough there ta share?” It was a distraction, more than anything. But the prospect of something even a little bit normal was a pretty good one.

 

~~

 

Sans sighed, pulling a second mug out. “Yeah. There’s creamer in the fridge.”

 

Sans poured his own cup, and didn’t bother with adding anything to it. Just chugged it, not even caring that it was still quite hot.

 

“Time for damage control. The media has been sniffing around a bit too much, likely wanna pin monsters in a bad light because of the actions of a few.” Sans gave a small wave, setting his mug down and teleporting out to get back to work.

 

~~

 

Red got his cup of coffee and loaded it down with sugar and creamer. He sat himself down at the table and was just about to take a drink when Sans imparted that little gem of information. His hands shook as he set his mug back down.

 

Before he could respond in any way, Sans was gone. 

 

Fuck… The media was trying to get in on this? Would they want to ask him questions? Would they try to hound his brother? He propped his face in his hands, his chest feeling way too heavy. He didn’t want to fucking deal with this shit.

 

It’s ok, he tried to tell himself. Sans was taking care of it. He was running damage control right now…

 

Didn’t make the prospect of media involvement any better…

 

He suddenly wished he had something a lot stronger than coffee in his cup.


End file.
